SLIPPERY ROCK— What looked like a laugher morphed into a nail-biter before turning into a win.

The Slippery Rock University men's basketball team improved to 2-0 under first-year coach Kevin Reynolds, despite blowing a 20-point lead and having two players foul out Wednesday night at Morrow Field House.

The Rock also learned three hours before game time that two other members of its eight-player rotation, Joseph Vines and Erroll Robinson, wouldn't be available because of injuries.

The Rock stillsecured a 79-69 triumph over Shepherd.

"We survived. And I'll take it,"Reynolds said.

SRUbuilt a 31-11 lead in the first 11 minutes and led 39-19 with 5:41 left in the first half. The Rock failed to score in the final 4:45 of the half, however, as Shepherd went on a 7-0 run and pulled within 12 by intermission.

Foul trouble plagued The Rock in the early stages of the second half as the Rams (0-3) continued to cut into the lead. Denell Stephens and Jamar Scales went to the bench with four fouls each and SRUleading 49-44 with 14:22 left.

"When you lose four guys out of your top eight, you're calling on guys to play prime roles who aren't accustomed to that yet,"Reynolds said.

"It also resulted in combinations of players on the floor who weren't used to playing with each other. We struggled with that for a while."

Shepherd took its only lead of the game at 55-53 with 10:10 to play. At that point, Reynolds put Stephens and Scales back on the floor.

The 6-foot-3 Stephens responded with three straight buckets, hitting a baseline jumper, sticking back an offensive rebound and canning a layup. SRUnever trailed again.

But it wasn't easy the rest of the way. Scales fouled out with eight minutes left, Stephens with 3:14 to go.

"Denell scored 18 points in 24 minutes tonight,"Reynolds said. "He's a high-energy guy. He doesn't really have a position, but he's a basketball player. Where do you put him?Out on the floor."

Michael Evans Jr. sank a 3-pointer — his fourth of the game and eighth in two contests — to give The Rock a 68-59 lead with 4:54 remaining.

Point guard Kyle Camper stepped back and drained a trey as the shot clock was expiring, handing his team a 73-63 edge with 2:39 left and virtually icing the win.

Shepherd sank 22 of 30 free throws, SRUjust two of seven. The Rock was whistled for nine fouls in the first eight minutes of the second half while Shepherd had just one foul on the board.

"The officials got together at halftime and decided to start calling the hand-check,"Shepherd coach Justin Namolik said. "That's what those calls were all about, in my opinion.

"We pressed and fought hard to get back in this game. You expend a lot of energy doing that. We couldn't maintain the pace.

"They made plays down the stretch to beat us,"Namolik added.

Evans and Maron Brown had 20 points each for SRU. Brown had nine rebounds as well. Camper had 15 of The Rock's 24 assists.Justin Jarman, a 6-8, 235-pound center, paced Shepherd with 20 points and eight rebounds.SRUis 2-0 for the first time since the 1993-94 season.SHEPHERD69Fred Lymus 1-7 6-8 8, Tariq Uqdah 1-3 2-2 5, Jonathan Motichka 1-4 7-9 9, Liki Turner 6-10 3-7 15, Justin Jarman 9-16 2-2 20, Tyrone Roach 3-10 0-0 7, Tory Wilson 0-0 2-2 2, Abdullah Dosu 0-2 0-0 0, Derek Gallagher 1-5 0-0 3.

Totals: 22-57 22-30 69

SLIPPERYROCK79Kyle Camper 3-6 0-3 7, Jamar Scales 2-5 0-0 5, Michael Evans Jr. 8-19 0-0 20, Maron Brown 9-13 2-2 20, Denell Stephens 9-14 0-0 18, Maurice Douglas 0-1 0-0 0, Bryen Spriggs 3-5 0-2 6, Tommy Kelly 1-2 0-0 2, Jade Burka 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 36-66 2-7 79

Halftime score: SRU 41-29

3-point goals: Uqdah, Roach, Gallagher; Camper, Evans 4

Saturday: Ohio State-Mansfield at Slippery Rock