INDIANA — The defeat was disappointing. The numbers were numbing.

Slippery Rock University’s bid for its first PSAC men’s basketball championship since 1963 ended with an 82-75 loss to Indiana (Pa.) Saturday night at Memorial Field House.

The Rock (21-10) had a 26-15 advantage in field goals, but was whistled for 38 fouls and had four players foul out. IUP had 22 personal fouls.

“It became a tough game for us under those circumstances,” Rock coach Kevin Reynolds said.

But SRU is still playing.

The Rock received one of five at-large bids in the Atlantic Region Sunday night and will be competing in the NCAA Division II Tournament for the first time in 20 years. SRU faces top-seed and unbeaten West Liberty, W.Va, (29-0) Saturday on the Hilltoppers’ home floor. Game time has not been announced.

“Our guys deserve this,” Reynolds said. “We’ve had a death in our basketball family (team manager Leo King), three of our players have had deaths in the family, we’ve had injuries .... I doubt any team in the country has faced more adversity than us this season.”

IUP (24-5) defeated SRU for the third time this year. The Crimson Hawks joined Edinboro as the only teams to post consecutive PSAC basketball titles in the past 18 years.

The Western Division has won 12 of the last 14 conference basketball crowns.

IUP sank 49 of 62 free throws, SRU hit 19 of 29.

The Rock’s Joe Vines fouled out in nine minutes of playing time. Butler graduate Jade Burka fouled out in 15 minutes. Rashiid Coleman and Tommy Kelly also fouled out coming off the bench.

“We had one player foul out all year (Coleman). This game was just one of those things,” Reynolds said. “We’re disappointed, but I’m proud of our effort.

“Our guys played hard from the opening tip through the end of the game.”

Kelly scored 12 points — hitting all five of his shots from the floor — before fouling out. Maron Brown paced The Rock with 25 points and six rebounds. He now has 1,304 points and 856 career rebounds at SRU.

Jabril Bailey added 19 points and five boards. Darryl Webb paced four IUP players in double figures with 24 points.

SRU’s only lead all night was at 2-1, 90 seconds into the game. IUP’s biggest lead was at 73-60 with 4:38 remaining. The Rock never got closer than seven the rest of the way.

SRU is now 1-6 all-time in PSAC title games. The Rock dropped its last championship game, also at IUP, in 2000.

“This is a good team and it deserves to play on,” Reynolds said. “We played 19 games on the road this season. No other team in the region did that.

“We beat Mercyhurst on the road twice. We’re 1-0 against Mansfield and Cheyney. All of those teams were ranked ahead of us going into the weekend.”

The Rock began the week ranked 10th in the Atlantic Region. Mercyhurst was fourth, Mansfield seventh and Cheyney ninth.

SLIPPERY ROCK 75John Bayardelle 1-4 0-0 2, Audin Reeves 3-7 3-4 9, Maron Brown 10-13 4-9 25, Jabril Bailey 5-16 8-10 19, Jade Burka 1-1 0-0 2, Devin Taylor 1-7 1-2 3, Rashiid Coleman 0-3 2-2 2, Torrance Timothy 0-1 0-0 0, Tommy Kelly 5-5 0-0 12, Joe Vines 0-1 1-2 1.

Totals: 26-58 19-29 75.

INDIANA 82Julian Sanders 0-2 8-8 8, Darryl Webb 4-10 15-17 24, Ashton Smith 5-11 8-11 18, Scotter Renkin 0-2 3-4 3, Willi Estrella 3-4 7-10 13, Kevin Stewart 2-5 6-8 12, Joe Rocco 0-0 0-0 0, Marcel Souberbielle 1-3 0-2 2, Chris Edwards 0-0 0-0 0.

Totals: 15-37 49-62 82.

Slippery Rock 25 50 —75Indiana 35 47 —823-point goals: SRU 4 (Brown, Bailey, Kelly 2); Indiana 3 (Webb, Stewart 2).

Day: xxx at xxx