INDIANA, Pa. — The halftime message was clear — and well received.

“Throw the ball to the guys in the white shirts,” Slippery Rock University men’s basketball coach Kevin Reynolds said he told his players. “Stop throwing the ball to the guys in the blue shirts.

“We were executing just fine when we passed to the right guys.”

Cheyney scored 15 points off turnovers in the first half of Friday’s PSAC semifinal with The Rock Friday night at Indiana (Pa.) University. The Wolves scored only three points off SRU mistakes in the second 20 minutes.

The turnaround triggered a second-half rally that landed SRU an 82-73 victory and its first berth in the PSAC title game since 2000.

The Rock (21-9) will face IUP (23-5) — an 81-72 winner over East Stroudsburg in Friday’s other semifinal — for the league title here at 7 p.m. Saturday.

IUP is the defending champion and is bidding to join Edinboro as the league’s only back-to-back champions since 1983.

SRU is bidding for its second basketball league title. The other came in 1963.

The Rock trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half and Cheyney (19-9) had a 55-44 advantage with 12:42 left in the game.

“We had a bunch of flatliners along our bench,” Cheyney coach Dominique Stephens said. “By that I mean no numbers showing up on the stat sheet for the minutes they were in there.

“Slippery Rock’s bench has all kinds of rebounds, assists, points showing up. ... Their bench definitely outplayed our bench.”

SRU never got the lead until a Jabril Bailey layup with 3:20 remaining. Bailey had knotted the score at 66 with a 3-pointer 30 seconds earlier.

The Rock rook the lead for good at 70-69 with two Maron Brown free throws with 2:48 to play. Brown added a 3-pointer from the right corner with 2:13 left and Bailey canned two free throws at the 1:20 mark.

A Brown layup with 50 seconds left hiked the lead to 77-69, capping a 9-0 run and secured the win.

“We’re one of the best in the league at stealing the ball and at protecting the ball,” Stephens said. “We didn’t do either down the stretch.”

Brown led The Rock with 32 points and 11 rebounds while Bailey had 22 points.

Devin Taylor came off the bench to produce 12 points and eight boards, and Rashiid Coleman had 11 points as a non-starter.

SRU had a 42-30 advantage on the boards and sank 32 of 40 free throws. Cheyney hit 16 of 19 free throws and had two players foul out.

SRU’s win marked its second rally from double-digit deficits in as many playoff games.

“I don’t think it’s nerves,” Bailey said. “We’ve been too amped up at the start of these games, trying to do too much.

“Once we settled down, we played Slippery Rock basketball.”

Butler graduate Jade Burka started his second straight postseason game and contributed three rebounds in 13 minutes.

“I don’t care what the numbers are,” Reynolds said. “Jade Burka is the best team player I’ve been around in my 21 years of coaching. He does whatever this team needs and his presence in our locker room cannot be measured.”

Burka played in his 102nd SRU game Friday night and started his 19th.

“These last four years have been amazing, a crazy ride, a great ride,” he said. “I can’t believe what’s happening right now. This is pretty emotional for me.”

David Burton scored 26 points for the Wolves and played the last 28 minutes after suffering a sprained ankle. Fellow senior and PSAC scoring leader Sharif Bray had 21 points and six assists.

The Rock lost both regular season games to IUP and haven’t beaten the Crimson Hawks since posting a PSAC quarterfinal playoff win in 2009.

“We’re going to be the underdogs Saturday night. That’s OK. We’re here,” Reynolds said.

CHEYNEY 73Sharif Bray 7-25 4-4 21, Bruce Kennedy 3-10 0-0 9, David Burton 7-16 12-14 26, Tyrone Blassinggame 2-3 0-0 4, Rob Townsend 2-3 0-0 5, Antonio Boyd 3-3 0-1 6, Anthony Juene 0-0 0-0 0, Michael Paeys 0-0 0-0 0, Jayvon Beaty 0-2 0-0 0, Donte Woody 0-0 0-0 0, Darryl Davis 1-3 0-0 2.

Totals: 25-65 16-19 73.

SLIPPERY ROCK 82John Bayardelle 0-3 2-2 2, Audin Reeves 0-1 3-4 3, Maron Brown 8-13 14-16 32, Jabril Bailey 6-14 8-9 22, Jade Burka 0-1 0-0 0, Devin Taylor 5-8 0-0 12, Rashiid Coleman 3-6 5-6 11, Torrance Timothy 0-1 0-3 0, Tommy Kelly 0-1 0-0 0, Joe Vines 0-1 0-0 0.

Totals: 22-49 32-40 82.

Halftime score: Cheyney 43-31.

3-point goals: Cheyney 7 (Bray 3, Kennedy 3, Townsend); SRU 6 (Brown 2, Bailey 2, Taylor 2).

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