ERIE — Despite a school-record 18 double-doubles from Maron Brown this season, Slippery Rock University hasn’t been a one-man team.

But it took one man to hold The Rock in the game early during its 51-45 PSAC men’s basketball quarterfinal victory Tuesday night at Mercyhurst.

With Brown being denied points in the paint and Devin Taylor hobbling on a bad foot, senior forward Jabril Bailey responded.

Bailey scored 13 of his team’s 26 first-half points and delivered 22 points, 11 rebounds and three assists overall for SRU.

The Rock (20-9) will face Cheyney, a 77-75 winner over Mansfield, at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Indiana (Pa.) in the semifinals. IUP will meet East Stroudsburg in the other semifinal.

“Yeah, I felt I had a lot more responsibility tonight,” Bailey said. “I wanted to come out aggressive, come out firing.”

Bailey delivered three 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes, the third triggering an 8-0 run late in the half that cut Mercyhurst’s biggest lead from 13 points to five.

Taylor came off the bench to deliver a layup during that run, which was capped by a Brown trey. Brown scored only eight points Tuesday, but he did snare 12 rebounds.

SRU trailed 31-26 at the half.

“Jabril is a first-team all-conference player, and that’s what that caliber of player does,” Rock coach Kevin Reynolds said. “He’s hit big shots for us all year.”

SRU didn’t get its first lead until a Brown layup put The Rock up 38-37 with 9:53 remaining.

Rock point guard Jon Valeriano played for only three minutes after missing three games with a high ankle sprain. Taylor injured his right foot two games ago and missed Saturday’s regular season finale.

He wound up scoring 11 points in 24 minutes, including a critical steal and three-point play, to salt away the victory with 40.3 seconds left.

“X-rays came back negative on the foot, but it’s really sore. I’d say it’s 70 percent,” Taylor said. “I told the coaches I’d be ready to go. When our offense was struggling early, I figured I was going to get in there.”

The Rock offense did struggle early in the contest, scoring only 19 points in the first 15 minutes.

The Lakers’ offense disappeared late in the game, sinking only three of 25 field goal attempts in the second half and scoring 14 points.

“We weren’t getting many perimeter looks against Slippery Rock’s defense and we missed eight or nine shots within three feet of the basket,” Mercyhurst coach Gary Manchel said.

Treys by Rashiid Coleman and Bailey sandwiched a Brown free throw and gave SRU a 47-40 lead with 3:44 remaining. Heiden Ratner, who paced the Lakers (20-7) with 16 points, responded with a fadeaway jumper.

Mercyhurst added three free throws to get within 47-45. The Lakers missed a fourth foul shot, but Ratner snared the rebound with 1:02 left.

Taylor then stepped in front of a pass at the top of the key, hobbled down the floor and laid the ball in while being fouled. His free throw gave The Rock a 50-45 lead and Mercyhurst did not challenge again.

“That was a game-saver, for sure,” Reynolds said.

Mercyhurst played without 6-foot-5 forward Luis Leao, who was averaging 17 points and eight rebounds per game. He is out with a torn ACL.

“He’s the best player in the conference, in my opinion, but I’m a little biased,” Manchel said. “Slippery Rock deserved to win this game. They have three viable all-conference players and their defense was outstanding.”