SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - Slippery Rock trailed by 20 points with just over 12 minutes remaining but rallied back to beat Millersville 81-80 on a wild finish that resulted in a Donovan Walker bucket as time expired. 

Millersville's (8-8, 5-5 PSAC) Khari Williams sank both shots of a one-and-one to give Millersville a one-point lead with five seconds remaining. With no timeouts, Slippery Rock heaved a full court pass that was initially broken up by Millersville at the foul line. Micah Till, who led all scorers with 28 and powered The Rock's comeback, gathered the ball at the 3-point line, hoisted a fade away that was partially blocked by Ryan Davis. Walker, racing toward the basket, caught the deflection in stride and flipped the ball up off the glass and into the basket his right hand from the left side. 

The loss snapped Millersville's three-game winning streak while Slippery Rock (8-8, 4-6 PSAC) won its second in a row. It was the seventh time that Slippery Rock has played a game decided by five points or fewer and Millersville falls to 1-5 in such games and is now 1-7 on the road. 

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Millersville out-scored Slippery Rock 25-12 over the first 6:44 of the second half, hitting eight of its first 11 shots. But out of the under-12 media timeout, a Will Robinson jumper started what would become a 23-0 Slippery Rock run that completely wiped out the Marauders' 20-point lead and built a 69-66 lead for The Rock. During that span of just under six minutes, Robinson scored eight points and Till scored seven with The Rock sinking 9-of-15 shots and 5-of-6 from the line while Millersville went 0-of-6 with four turnovers. Millersville went 7:11 without scoring. 
• The drought finally ended with 5:34 left on a Davis 3-pointer that temporarily tied the game. After that make, the lead changed hands five times and the score stood tied six times. Millersville trailed by as many as 75-71, but a Williams jumper and James Sullivan 3-pointer put Millersville on top by one. Another Williams' jumper was sandwiched by four Robinson free throws, and Millersville forced a turnover with 15 seconds left, trailing 79-78. Out of a timeout, Williams drove to his left and picked up a foul and calmly sank both to put Millersville up one. Then, Slippery Rock's prayer was answered by Walker, who finished with 10 points. 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• Millersville shot 50.9 percent from the field and 9-of-20 from three and also committed just 11 turnovers to Slippery Rock's 17 but was undone by Slippery Rock's dominance on the glass. The Rock held a 41-23 edge in rebounds and scored 15 points off of 16 offensive rebounds. 
• Williams led Millersville with 21 points and four steals, playing the full 40 minutes. It was his second-consecutive 20-point effort and fourth of the season. Justin Nwosu scored 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Sullivan made all three 3-pointers for 11 points. Ryan Davis scored 13, coming within two of his career high. 

POSTGAME REACTION FROM COACH STITZEL
• On the finish of the game: "After we got the lead we got away from what was successful. Then, when it gets down to being up only one possession, a bad bounce can lose the game. For us, that's twice this year that a bad bounce has resulted in a layup and a loss."
• On losing the 20-point lead: "I thought our defensive intensity went down. We let Till get going. We did a great job doubling him early, but then he started getting deep looks, and we started playing behind him. We stopped getting rebounds. Offensively, we couldn't get out into transition and the ball started sticking. We executed the game plan to a T for 30 minutes. The lack of depth hurt inside. D'Marco (Suggs) was plus-21 when he fouled out, and without Caden (Najdawi) available, it made it tough inside."
• On how the team bounces back: "The moral of the story is that for 30 minutes we played hard, together and executed the game plan. The bad news is that we lost the game. The good news is that against a team with Till is going to give the West some problems and without our two best players we had a 20-point lead. There was so much good in the first 30 minutes. We have to build on that and move forward." 

NOTES
• Millersville is now 5-3 when shooting over 50 percent from the field. 
• Najdawi, the Marauders' starting center, missed his third game of the season with an injury. Suggs started for the first time since game two of the season. He is one of eight Marauders with at least two starts. Only Sullivan and Williams have started all 16 games. 
• Williams has led the Marauders in scoring a team-leading six times. 

UP NEXT
• Millersville returns home to play Shepherd on Saturday, Jan. 18. It will be Shepherd's first trip to Pucillo Gymnasium since 1992.