Boxscore

INDIANA, Pa. – Hosting Indiana U. of Pa. took full advantage of a 62-29 advantage in free throw shots to defeat Slippery Rock University, 82-75, Saturday night in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship game in Memorial Fieldhouse.

The Crimson Hawks (24-5) outscored The Rock by a 49-19 margin on free throws en route to winning their second straight PSAC title and automatic berth in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional tournament.

SRU (21-10), which played in its first conference championship game since 2000, must now wait anxiously to see if it, too, will earn a berth in the regional tournament next weekend.

The Rock began the week ranked 10th in the regional poll but recorded wins in the past five nights over fourth-ranked Mercyhurst and ninth-ranked Cheyney in PSAC quarterfinal and semifinal action, respectively.

Those two wins, coupled with the fact last Tuesday at Mercyhurst was SRU's second straight over the Lakers on their home court and The Rock beat seventh-ranked Mansfield in a regular-season game earlier this winter, should earn the Green and White their first NCAA tournament berth since 1991.

Senior forward Maron Brown scored a game-high 25 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead The Rock attack. Senior guard Jabril Bailey added 19 points and five rebounds and junior guard Tommy Kelly chipped in 12 points in a substitute role.

Darryl Webb led a list of four Indiana players who had double-figure scoring effort. The senior All-America performer scored 24 points behind a 15-for-17 night at the foul line. He also grabbed 11 rebounds en route to being named as the championship-game MVP.

The Rock outscored Indiana by a 52-30 margin on field goal attempts, but they could not overcome the disadvantage that resulted from a 38-22 difference in personal fouls.

SRU finished the game with a 45% (26-58) efficiency on its field goal attempts, made four of 20 shots from beyond the 3-point arc and hit 19 shot 66% (19-20) from the foul line.

The Rock also held a 35-30 rebounding advantage but had more turnovers, 12-9. Indiana scored 17 points off Rock turnovers, while SRU converted Indiana miscues into 10 points.

SRU outscored the hosts by a 36-18 margin “in the paint,” by a 13-9 margin in second-chance points and by an 18-16 edge in points “off the bench.”

Indiana finished the game with a 41% (15-37) efficiency from the field, hit three of 12 shots from long range and canned 49 of 62 free throws (79%).

The Rock held only one lead in the game, a 2-1 edge 90 seconds into the action.

Indiana put together a 10-2 run in the next four minutes to take an 11-4 lead before SRU clawed its way back to trail by only two points, 23-21, with three minutes remaining before halftime.

The Crimson Hawks responded with a 12-2 run in the next two and half minutes and held a 35-23 lead with 30 seconds left and took a 10-point (35-25) advantage into the intermission.

The hosts had a 15-5 advantage in free throws made as the result of a 19-7 difference in attempts in the first 20 minutes. The Rock was called for 13 personal fouls in the first half, while Indiana was whistled for eight.

The Rock made 39% (10-26) of their shots from the floor in the first 20 minutes, including an 0-for-9 showing from 3-point range, while Indiana shot 43% (9-21) from the field and 25% (2-8) from 3-point range.

SRU had a 17-15 rebounding edge but also had more turnovers, 8-5. Indiana scored 10 points off SRU errors, while The Rock converted Crimson Hawks' miscues into six points. SRU also had a 16-10 advantage in points “in the paint” while Indiana had a 9-2 advantage in points “off the bench.”

Bailey (9) and Brown (8) combined for 17 of The Rock's 25 first-half points, while Webb had 12 points for Indiana.

The Rock trimmed the margin to five points, 44-39, with 14 minutes left to play in the game, but 10 minutes later found themselves down by 13 points, 73-60.

SRU never got closer than seven points in the final four and a half minutes of action.

Notes:

The Rock made its seventh appearance in a PSAC title game Saturday ... The Green and White's last appearance (2000) also resulted in a loss at Indiana … The 1962-63 team coached by Hank Baierl is the only Rock squad to capture a conference championship … Saturday's loss gave The Rock a 13-14 record in PSAC tournament games … This year's conference tournament berth was the 15th earned by a Rock men's team … Last Friday marked the 11th time in school history a Rock men's team played in a semifinal game … Brown improved his career totals to 1,304 points and 856 rebounds Saturday night. Those totals rank as the seventh and third highest ever recorded by a Rock men's player … Third-year Rock head coach Kevin Reynolds now owns a 57-30 record as The Rock's boss. That win total ranks sixth on SRU's all-time wins list.