Pitt-Johnstown hung around until the final possession with a chance to tie the game, but Elijah Sechler's 3-point attempt in the waning seconds clanked harmlessly off the front of the rim to seal a narrow 61-58 defeat to Slippery Rock on Saturday afternoon at Morrow Field House.

The Mountain Cats were a thorn in the side of The Rock throughout the second half before eventually dropping to 6-19, 4-15 in the PSAC.

Freshman Gavin Headings secured his sixth career double-double to lead the way with 14 points and 12 rebounds. In his fourth start of the season, redshirt freshman Nick Watts provided 14 points and seven rebounds. Sechler also finished in double-figures with 10 points and grabbed six rebounds after playing all 40 minutes.

Pitt-Johnstown went down by as many as nine with less than 13 minutes to play before a 5-0 run capped by Andy Zuchelli's 3-pointer made it 47-43. Despite staying within two possessions from that point on, the Mountain Cats strung back-to-back field goals together on only two occasions over the final 10 minutes and never seized the upper-hand.

A layup from Headings at the 4:06 mark trimmed it to 59-57, but Ike Herster's layup nearly 30 seconds later pushed Slippery Rock's advantage to 61-57. Despite several opportunities to inch closer, Heading's 1-for-2 trip to the free-throw line with roughly a minute to play was the only point the Mountain Cats could muster in the remaining four minutes.

The Mountain Cats shot 33.8% (24-for-71) from the field. The Rock compiled a 41.5% (27-for-65) mark and were limited to a 3-for-22 (13.6%) showing from beyond the arc. Pitt-Johnstown went 0-for-2 in the first half and finished 4-for-11 from the free-throw line, while Slippery Rock made four of its five attempts. Neither team connected on a free throw in the first 20 minutes.

Headings polished off an 8-2 run to give the Mountain Cats a brief 25-23 advantage with seven minutes remaining in the first half. The Rock battled back to take a 31-29 lead into the break. Herster contributed a game-high 19 points for Slippery Rock, which scored 44 of its 61 points in the paint to even its record at 12-12, 10-8 in the PSAC.

Pitt-Johnstown hosts California (Pa.) on Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off from the Sports Center.