Complete Game Notes

GAME QUICK FACTS
Elizabethtown (4-2) at Millersville (3-2)
Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2008 - 7:30 p.m.
Pucillo Gymnasium, Millersville, Pa.

West Virginia State at Millersville
Saturday, Dec. 6, 2008 -2 p.m.
Pucillo Gymnasium, Millersville, Pa.

COVERAGE
Audio: MSBN
Live Stats

TICKETS
Adults: $6.00
Students: $3.00
Millersville Students: Free with I.D.

ABOUT THE GAME
•    Millersville returns to Pucillo Gymnasium after a difficult stretch of non-conference road games. The Marauders are 3-2 overall and are looking to bounce back from an 86-70 loss at West Virginia State.  The Marauders have an opportunity to avenge a pair of losses this week. Elizabethtown, which topped Millersville 77-72 last season, invades Millersville on Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff. On Saturday, just one week removed from its last meeting, Millersville and West Virginia State square off at 2 p.m.
•    Millersville is looking to correct its recent offensive struggles. The team has shot 67-of-171 (.392) from the field in its last three games and is just 16-of-59 (.213) from 3-point range over the same stretch. Against West Virginia State, the Marauders managed to hit 2-of-18 threes, marking the fewest made 3-pointers since making 1-of-12 in a 64-61 win over Edinboro in the NCAA East Regional last season.
•    Elizabethtown enters the game with a 4-2 record and is riding a two-game winning streak that includes an overtime victory against Marymount and an 82-75 win over Neumann. The Blue Jays are 0-2 in games played away from home this season.
•    West Virginia State comes into the week with a 3-1 record and travels to Davis & Elkins for a WVIAC contest on Wednesday before heading to Millersville on Saturday. The Yellow Jackets' lone loss this season was in overtime and they have won two in a row since. While Fred Thompson is 11-8 all-time against teams from the WVIAC, he has yet to defeat West Virginia State (0-4).
•    Both of this week's contests will be broadcast live on the Marauders Sports Broadcasting Network (MSBN). Fans can access the broadcast on www.millersvilleathletics.com. Live stats will also be available via www.millersvilleathletics.com.

ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
•    Elizabethtown has topped the 80-point mark in each of its last two games, but all four of its wins have been by single digits. The Blue Jays are outscoring their opponents by a narrow 70.5-68.7 margin. Despite holding opponents to under 70 points per game, Elizabethtown's foes are shooting an impressive .508 percent from the field. The Blue Jays, however, have offset that by forcing 147 turnovers (24.5 per game).
•     Pacing the Blue Jays on offense is Joe Flanagan's 16.2 points per game. Flanagan is a marksman from deep, hitting 14-of-34 3-point attempts. Mike Church is the team's top all-around threat, averaging 15.8 points and 6.0 rebounds.
•     Head Coach Bob Schlosser is in his 19th year and boasts a 283-188 career record. He has taken guided Elizabethtown to three NCAA Division III appearances since 2001-02.
•    West Virginia State is hitting its stride on offense, cranking out 87 and 86 points in its last two outings. Ted Scott has led the team in scoring in three of the four games and is averaging 25.5 points per game. He is shooting 52.9 percent from the field as well. Ricky Jackson, a transfer from Mountain State, has emerged as the Yellow Jackets' No. 2 option. He is scoring 15.7 points per game and grabbing 8.7 rebounds per game.
•    The program has won at least 19 games in five of the last six years and is 117-41 during that six-year run.
•    Bryan Poore is in his ninth season at West Virginia State and he boasts a 152-91 record at the school and a 164-105 mark as a collegiate coach. Prior to West Virginia State, he was an assistant for three seasons at Marshall and five years at the University of Charleston. Poore is a 1988 graduate of West Virginia State.

THE SERIES
•    Millersville and Elizabethtown are old rivals, having met 92 times. Millersville has faced Elizabethtown more times than any other non-PSAC opponent.  The series began in 1928-29 with Elizabethtown winning a 27-22 contest. The Marauders, however, hold the all-time series lead at 68-24. The programs met every year from 1948-1999 before taking a five year hiatus in the series. Since resuming the series in 2004-05, Millersville and Elizabethtown have split the four games with two wins apiece. While Elizabethtown earned a 77-72 victory last year, the previous three games were all decided by double figures.
•    The Nov. 29 meeting was the first between the Millersville and West Virginia State since 2005-06. West Virginia State holds a 5-0 record against Millersville all-time and is 4-0 against Fred Thompson's clubs. Three of the five games, however, have been decided by four points or fewer. The first meeting came in 1997-98 with W.Va. State winning 82-78. The clubs met twice in 2005-06 with West Virginia State winning the season opener 77-76 and then topping the Marauders 76-72 in January.

SEEING DOUBLE
•    After playing 62 games without a double-double, Makal Stibbins has totaled three in his first five games of 2007-08. He has matched a career-high with 11 rebounds three times. He also set a career in points with 17 against Penn State Abington.
•    Both Stibbins and Reggie Bates recorded double-doubles in the season opening victory over Penn State Abington. Stibbins' 17 points and 10 boards were both career highs and gave him his first career double-double. Bates had 11 points and 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double.
•    Millersville saw double-double efforts 15 times in 2007-08 including six in the final five games of the season. Dating back to last season, Millersville has 10 double-doubles in the last 10 games including four in the first five games of this season.

BLOCK PARTY
•    Millersville has blocked at least two shots in every game in each game this season and have had a player block two or more three times.
•    Makal Stibbins blocked a career high six shots in the season opener against Penn State Abington. His previous best was four, which he recorded on four different occasions. His six blocks were the most by a Marauder since George Bailey swatted seven against Southern Connecticut State on Nov. 20, 1999.
•    As a team, the Marauders swatted seven shots. Millersville blocked seven shots twice and eight one time in 2007-08.

THE LAST TIME OUT
•    Homestanding West Virginia State scored the first seven points of the game and the Millersville men's basketball team could never recover, falling 86-70 to the Yellow Jackets Saturday afternoon.
•    Senior Reggie Bates scored a season high 26 points and Jason Blake tallied a career-high 19, but the Marauders struggled to generate offense, shooting just 34 percent on the game and 2-of-18 from 3-point range. W.Va. State's stifling full-court press had a hand in forcing 17 Millersville turnovers as well. •    The Yellow Jackets were led by Ted Scott, who led the nation in scoring in 2006-07. He finished with 25 points on 11-of-16 shooting. He received plenty of support, though, as four other Yellow Jackets scored in double figures.
•    The potent W.Va. State offense clicked early as itraced to a 7-0 lead before the Marauders cracked the scoring column over three minutes into the game. W.Va. State's Wade Pidcock led the early charge, hitting three 3-pointers in the first six minutes to give the Yellow Jackets a 10 point lead.
•    Despite shooting just 9-of-29 from the field in the first frame, the Marauders stayed close thanks to 10 points from both Bates and Blake. Millersville trailed by 11 at the half but slashed the lead to just five points with 15:16 left in the game after six-straight points by Bates.
•    But four seconds after Bates' shot made the score 48-43, Will Collins scored on a fast break lay-up, sparking an 11-3 W.Va. State run over the next three minutes that put the Marauders out of reach.
•    Makal Stibbins managed four points, but finished with his third double-digit rebound effort in four games, as he pulled down a game-high 11.

MARAUDER MILESTONES
•    Millersville's men's basketball program began in 1899 and since then, it has compiled 1,296 wins, leaving it just four victories shy of 1,300 all-time wins. Entering the 2008-09 season, Millersville is 11th among all Division II teams in all-time victories and 25th by winning percentage.
•    He has only played in a Millersville uniform for two seasons, but Reggie Bates has rapidly climbed up the all-time scoring list. His career average of 16.1 points per game and 1,097 total points places him 31st  all-time ahead of Daron Pressley '04. He passed Lyman Reifsnyder '42 and Joe Labatch '56 in the first game of the season. Bates' scored 615 points a year ago and with a repeat effort, he would finish with 1,641 points and 10th all-time just ahead of Lance Gelnett '92, who was inducted into the Millersville University Athletic Hall of Fame this year. Bates is also on pace to be the top-scoring three-year player in school history.
•    Only two coaches in Millersville men's basketball history have reached the 200-win plateau and Fred Thompson is only 14 wins shy of joining John Kochan (285-96) and Richard DeHart (321-298).  Thompson could be the second-fastest coach in school history to achieve the milestone. It took Kochan into his ninth season to win his 200th game. DeHart won his 200th game with his third victory in his 15th year.

SUPER SCORER
•    Reggie Bates produced one of the best single seasons in school history last year and is looking to become the third-straight Marauder to earn PSAC East Athlete of the Year honors if he can duplicate his junior season efforts.
•    Bates erupted for a season-high 26 points against W.Va. State and has not been held under 10 points in the last seven games he has played dating back to last season. The senior guard is averaging 19.9 points per game over that span. The last time Bates failed to record double digits in scoring was on March 7, 2008, against Edinboro, when he scored eight.
•    Bates scored 12.8 points per game as a sophomore in 2006-07, but 2007-08 was truly his breakthrough season. Bates led the team in scoring with 19.2 points per game and produced the sixth-best single season point total in school history with 615. Bates scored in double figures in all but five games and scored at least six points in every game. He also produced 15 20-point games—two of which came in the NCAA East Regional—and four 30-point outings. Bates was responsible for four of the team's five 30-point games during the year. His 36 point performance against Slippery Rock on Dec. 2 was the top scoring performance of the season for Millersville and the second-best performance in the PSAC.
•    In the second round of the NCAA East Regional, Bates scored 32 points to become the 35th player in school history to total 1,000 points. It took him only 64 games to reach that milestone.
•    Bates finished the season ranked second in the PSAC in scoring average and first in field goals made and total points scored. His points per game average was 34th in Division II as well.

ADVANTAGE PUCILLO
•    Since Fred Thompson took over the program in 1998-99, the Marauders are incredible 111-34 at home in Pucillo Gymnasium. The Marauders have posted a 28-4 home mark in the last three seasons (including 2008-09). The team has won no fewer than eight home games each season. The Marauders recorded eight of their 10 wins at home in 2005-06 and nine of their 12 wins came at home in 1999-00.  
•    Maybe even more impressive is the 44-16 PSAC East record during that stretch. Millersville is 9-1 against PSAC East teams in Pucillo in the last two seasons.

NEW FACES
•    The Marauders return only one starter (Reggie Bates) from last season and lost 62 percent of its scoring and rebounding.
•    Thompson filled the roster with five freshmen and five transfers. Four of the transfers gained experience in the junior college ranks and T.J. Lundy, who sat out last season because of the NCAA's two-time transfer rule played at St. Francis (Pa.) and Division II Tampa before coming to Millersville.
•    The incoming class is also heavy at the guard position. Seven of the incoming players play guard and five are listed at 6-foot or shorter.
•    A pair of newcomers, Jason Blake and Palmer McDurfee are slated to be in the starting lineup for the opener. Blake, a 6-2 point guard, played two seasons at the Community College of Philadelphia. McDurfee, a 5-9 shooting guard,  was the leading scorer for the Community College of Beaver County a year ago.
•    The freshmen accumulated plenty of high school accolades. Mike Seibert was a third team all-state player at Columbia. Cullen Murray-Kemp was the Bayside Conference Player of the Year in 2007-08, and Brandon Widener, who graduated from Penn Manor in 2006-07, was an All-Lancaster-Lebanon First Team pick.

EARLY EXPECTATIONS
•    After posting a 22-10 overall record and an 8-4 mark in the PSAC East a year ago, the Marauders were pegged to finish second by the coaches in the PSAC Preseason Poll. 
•    The favorite in the Eastern Division was defending champion Kutztown. The Golden Bears posted a 19-9 overall mark and a 10-2 mark in the division last year and return all five starters including Preason All-PSAC East picks David Ben and Stephen Dennis. East Stroudsburg finished fourth in the East last year but was picked third in this year's preseason rankings. The Warriors are led by preseason selection Chris Bach. Cheyney, which shared the PSAC East crown with Kutztown, was picked fourth. The Wolves have a new head coach Dominique Stephens but return preseason pick Tyrone Smith.
•    Mansfield, picked fifth, was followed by Shippensburg, which is making the shift to the Eastern Division after the PSAC expansion. West Chester and preseason selection Kenneth St. George were voted seventh, and Bloomsburg was pegged eighth.
•    For Millersville, Reggie Bates was named Preseason All-PSAC East for the second-consecutive season.

MARCH MADNESS
•    Extending the season into March is becoming commonplace at Millersville, and in 2007-08, the Marauders earned their 20th bid to the PSAC Tournament since 1984 and the seventh under the direction of Fred Thompson. Millersville has also won at least one game in the tournament in each of their last four appearances.
•    Despite falling in the PSAC Tournament semifinals to Edinboro, the Marauders entered the NCAA Division II Tournament as the No. 7 seed in the East Region and promptly knocked off Edinboro and Pitt-Johnstown to make their second-straight appearance and third since 2003 in the East Region title game. Top seeded California (Pa.) halted Millersville's quest for an Elite Eight appearance by a 64-52 score.
•    Among PSAC programs, Millersville has four NCAA Tournament bids since 2003. Only California (Pa.) has more with five.
•    Thompson is looking to take his team to an eighth PSAC Tournament and a fifth NCAA Tournament. In Millersville history, Thompson is second only to John Kochan (1983-96) in overall PSAC appearances, but needs only one more tournament win to vault Kochan for the most PSAC tournament victories as a Millersville coach. If Millersville appears in the NCAA Tournament this year, it will be the third time in school history that Millersville has earned three-straight berths.