INDIANA — This script was written before. Devin Taylor can’t wait for the sequel.

The New Castle graduate and 6-foot-6 senior forward scored 22 points and grabbed 14 rebounds Friday night to lead SRU past East Stroudsburg, 68-59, in a PSAC men’s basketball semifinal at Indiana’s Kovalchick Complex.

The win puts SRU (22-7) in Saturday’s conference title game against host IUP (23-5) — a 92-76 winner over West Chester. Taylor was a sophomore when The Rock dropped an 82-75 decision to IUP in the league title game two years ago.

“I thought about how cool it would be to play the same team for the championship again,” Taylor admitted.

The Rock never trailed Friday, jumping on the defending PSAC champion Warriors (22-6) 12-2 in the game’s first five minutes. SRU led by 15 (35-20) at halftime and its lead peaked at 48-29 with 11:16 left in the game.

“Their physicality took us out of character and threw us off our game right away,” Warriors coach Jeff Wilson admitted.

East Stroudsburg had defeated SRU, 84-72, at Morrow Field House in January. That marked the most points any team scored against The Rock all season.

The Warriors are averaging 79 points per game — most in the PSAC — but didn’t score their 40th point Friday until less than five minutes remained. East Stroudsburg did not sink a field goal in the final 9:30 of the first half, nor in the first four minutes of the second half.

East Stroudsburg guard Whis Grant averages 17.5 points per game and torched SRU for 28 points in their regular season meeting. He did not score a point in the first half Friday and sank just two field goals the entire night.

“They put a taller guy on me (6-8 Tabari Perry) and I couldn’t get clean shots,” Grant said. “He made it a lot harder for me to create offense.”

“Tabari’s a bigger, longer defender and he did a tremendous job on him,” SRU coach Kevin Reynolds said. “But you don’t stop the PSAC East Player of the Year with one guy.

“Devin and Gerald (Brooks) did a great job inside when (Grant) penetrated. This was a beautiful team effort defensively.”

The Rock seemingly had the game put away, sporting a 56-42 lead with 4:50 remaining. But East Stroudsburg had one more charge left.

A Rock turnover at midcourt resulted in a Matt Tobin jumper, Gerald Bridges Jr. stole an inbounds pass under the basket, laid it in and converted a 3-point play, then Duane Johnson sank a free throw after another backcourt turnover.

The score was suddenly 58-52. But a timely 3-point play by Brooks got the momentum back for SRU.

“We couldn’t generate enough offense to win,” Wilson said. “Our big man (Terrance King) got in foul trouble and spent time on the bench. Our offense runs through the post and we don’t have another player like him.

“We shot 26.3 percent. We had six assists and 17 turnovers. That’s not us. But Slippery Rock had a lot to do with that.”

Brooks scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds off the bench for SRU. Johnson led East Stroudsburg with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

“We just beat one of the best programs in all of Division II,” Reynolds said. “Jeff Wilson is one of the best coaches in the country and their seniors have something like 103 wins.

“I’m proud of our effort tonight. It’s all the players. They get the credit. You can’t win a thoroughbred race with a bunch of donkeys.”

SRU will be looking for the second PSAC men’s basketball title in the program’s history Saturday night. The 1962-63 team nipped Mansfield, 74-73, in the title game.

The Rock has lost the PSAC championship game six times.

EAST STROUDSBURG 59

Gerald Bridges Jr. 2-6 1-1 6, Duane Johnson 5-14 9-11 20, Terrance King 3-8 5-13 11, Whis Grant 2-11 9-10 13, Matt Tobin 2-7 0-0 4, Malcolm Richardson 0-1 0-0 0, Lamont Tillery 0-2 0-0 0, Muhamadou Kaba 0-1 0-0 0, Dajon Todmann 0-2 0-0 0, Zechariah Runkle 1-2 0-0 3, Blair Ramsey 0-3 2-2 2. Totals: 15-57 26-38 59.

SLIPPERY ROCK 68

Devin Taylor 9-12 4-4 22, Tabari Perry 3-4 1-1 8, Luiz Santos 3-5 1-5 7, Darious Clark 0-7 4-4 4, Aubin Reeves 0-3 3-4 3, John Bayardelle 2-5 0-0 5, Sa’Quan Davis 1-5 2-2 4, Gerald Brooks 6-17 3-5 15. Totals: 24-58 18-25 68.

3-point goals: East Stroudsburg 3 (Bridges Jr., Johnson, Runkle); SRU 2 (Perry, Bayardelle)

Halftime: Slippery Rock, 35-20

Saturday: PSAC Championship-Slippery Rock at Indiana (Pa.), 7 p.m.