INDIANA, Pa. - So much for suspense.

Had Slippery Rock University's men's basketball team won Wednesday night at Indiana (Pa.), it would have earned two extra days of practice before learning of its PSAC playoff fate.

No such luck.

IUP (22-7, 7-4) went on a 22-4 run after falling behind 2-0 and never had less than a 12-point lead as the Indians cruised to a 101-61 victory at Memorial Field House.

"We're capable of playing some high-tempo pressure defense," IUP coach Gary Edwards said. "We haven't shown it very much this year.

"Tonight, we decided to let it rip."

And it ripped The Rock apart.

SRU (7-20, 5-7) committed 45 turnovers, including 28 in the second half. That statistic caused coach John Marhefka to look at the box score twice.

"Is that some kind of national record or something?" he wondered aloud.

IUP scored more than 100 points for the fourth time this season and for second game in a row while The Rock surrendered 90 points for the only time all year. Its previous high was 89 against Mansfield Dec. 5.

Had IUP lost Wednesday, it would have needed a win at home against Clarion this weekend to secure its 12th PSAC playoff berth in 13 years.

"We didn't want to take any chances," Edwards said. "We have a lot of respect for Slippery Rock. They've beaten some good teams in the second half of the season."

SRU began this season 0-11 - the worst start in the program's history - and wound up staying alive for a playoff berth until the final game.

"That's encouraging, but this game showed us where we have to get to," Marhefka said. "In terms of being mentally ready and prepared to play, IUP wanted this game a lot more than we did.

"They are big, strong and athletic. You could see it in the matchups on the floor. … We didn't match up. We have to get after it in the weight room."

While SRU just missed the playoffs, the reality is the program suffered its 13th losing season in 14 years and only its third 20-loss campaign since 1944.

IUP has won 11 of its last 12 games against The Rock and the Indians have defeated SRU 10 straight times at Memorial Field House.

The Indians are 13-1 at home this season and have won 84 percent of their home games in Edwards' nine years as head coach.

"For some reason, we play with more emotion at home, with more fire," Edwards said.

G.J. Macon paced IUP with 25 points. Glenn Reepmeyer had 19 points and eight rebounds for The Rock.

Seniors Bill Johnson, Mason Glick and Ryan Yarosik played their final games for SRU. Yarosik, a walk-on who became a starter, had nine points on three 3-pointers in his final game.

"If everybody in this program got as much out of his ability as Ryan Yarosik did, we'd be in a much better position right now," Marhefka said.

"We've got four guys who sat out this year because of academics who should help a lot next year. We need to find a true point guard and that No. 4 power forward who can rebound - but everybody's looking for that."

Johnson scored 10 points Wednesday and ended his SRU career 21 points short of 1,000. He played in only 72 games.

SLIPPERY ROCK (61)

Bill Johnson 3-7 4-4 10, Mason Glick 0-5 0-0 0, Ryan Yarosik 3-3 0-0 9, Jason Bratten 1-5 2-2 5, Glenn Reepmeyer 7-11 5-8 19, John Kearney 3-6 0-0 8, Brandon Thompson 2-4 0-0 4, Corey Nesser 0-0 1-2 1, Sean White 0-3 1-2 1, Dejan Jancic 0-4 4-6 4. Totals: 19-48 17-24 61

INDIANA (101)

Brian Kizzie 1-4 2-2 4, Mike Mangel 2-7 1-2 7, G.J. Macon 8-10 6-9 25, Ayyub Ali 3-10 3-6 9, Eddie Peterson 6-12 3-4 17, Eric Castorina 2-5 3-4 8, Lawrence Baker 3-8 0-0 6, Anthony Sweeney 0-1 2-2 2, Marc Williams 4-7 4-4 13, Dustin Golub 0-0 0-0 0, Chad Curran 1-2 0-0 2, Dante Baldeh 4-9 0-0 8, Adeniyi Amadou 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 34-75 24-33 101

Halftime - IUP, 42-27. 3-point goals - SRU 6-15 (Johnson 0-3, Glick 0-1, Yarosik 3-3, Bratten 1-3, Kearney 2-3, White 0-2), IUP 9-23 (Kizzie 0-2, Mangel 2-6, Macon 3-5, Ali 0-1, Peterson 2-4, Castorina 1-2, Sweeney 0-1, Williams 1-2). Rebounds - SRU 39 (Bratten 9), IUP 39 (Ali 10). Assists - SRU 15 (Glick 5), IUP 22 (Kizzie 8). Total fouls - SRU 24, IUP 21. Fouled out - Yarosik (SRU); Technical fouls - none.