Complete Game Notes

GAME QUICK FACTS
Millersville (6-7) at West Chester (9-4)
Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009 - 8 p.m.
Hollinger Fieldhouse, West Chester, Pa.

Millersville at Kutztown (11-2)
Saturday, Jan. 17, 2009 - 8 p.m.
Keystone Hall, Kutztown, Pa.

COVERAGE
Audio: MSBN

ABOUT THE GAMES
•    The Marauders finished non-conference play with a 6-7 mark and enter PSAC Eastern Division play this week with a pair of road games against West Chester and Kutztown. Both West Chester and Kutztown are off to impressive starts. West Chester is 9-4 and coming off an upset victory over No. 21 Mercyhurst last week. Kutztown, the PSAC East preseason favorite, has taken care of business, boasting an 11-2 record. 
•    The Marauders will be on the road for both games and are 2-5 away from Pucillo Gymnasium so far this season.     Millersville has outscored opponents 450-407 in six home games but have been outscored 530-456 (75.7-65.1) in its seven road games. Millersville has shot 46.1 percent at home but 40.1 on the road. The Marauders are also being outrebounded 38.4-31.4 on the road.
•    With the Jan. 11 overtime loss at Mercyhurst, Millersville suffered its seventh loss of the season—the earliest it has done so since 1999-2000, when the team started 3-7.
•    While the Marauders may have started slow in non-conference play they are looking for a quick start to PSAC play. The program has been ultra-successful in the PSAC. Millersville has captured 10 PSAC East titles since 1984-85 and has 10 PSAC titles since 1951. Millersville's 10 PSAC Championships is second most only to Cheyney's 15, but Cheyney is without a title since 1986. Since then, Millersville has five championships. During the 10-year tenure of Fred Thompson, Millersville has three PSAC East titles and has reached the PSAC Tournament seven times.
•    Fred Thompson is 88-55 all-time against the PSAC East. He is 7-3 in PSAC East openers and has won the last two. The last team to beat Millersville in a PSAC East opener was West Chester in 2005-06.  •    Both contests will be broadcast live on the Marauders Sports Broadcasting Network (MSBN). Fans can access the broadcast on www.millersvilleathletics.com.

ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
•    West Chester, under first-year head coach Damien Blair is looking to bounce back from Sunday's 76-63 loss at Slippery Rock.  The day before, however, the Golden Rams handed No. 21 Mercyhurst its first loss of the season, 63-58. The 9-4 Golden Rams have won five of their last seven.
•    The Golden Rams aren't a high scoring team, averaging just 67 points per game. However, their scoring defense is second in the PSAC at 60.5 points per game. West Chester is also one of the top rebounding teams in the league. It ranks fifth by outrebounding opponents by an average of 5.0 per game.
 •    Ralph Hegamin is the top offensive weapon, ranking seventh in the league in scoring at 17.9 points per game. He has led the team in scoring nine times and led in rebounding 11 times.
•     Kutztown returned its top three scorers from a team that won a PSAC East title last year. Dave Ben, Steven Dennis and Ryan Washington are the leading scorers and are also winners of the last three PSAC East Rookie of the Year awards. Dennis leads the team with 21.7 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. Ben is averaging 21.3 points per outing. Washington is averaging 13.4 points and a team-high 8.7 rebounds. All three players are shooting over 50 percent from the field as well.
•     The Golden Bears are 7-0 at home this year and boast a potent offense that has scored over 90 points seven times. They are outscoring opponents by an average of 21.3 points per game and its .509 team shooting percentage is best in the PSAC.

THE SERIES
•    Millersville and West Chester have one of the most competitive rivalries in the PSAC. The two programs have met 178 times with Millersville holding a slight 91-87 edge. Also, there are just 77 points difference in the total points scored in the series. Millersville, however, has won three in a row including a 67-37 triumph in the last meeting. During Fred Thompson's tenure, though, Millersville is just 9-13 against West Chester.  
•    Kutztown is seeking revenge as Millersville knocked the Golden Bears out of the PSAC Tournament one year ago in the quarterfinals. Millersville won Millersville won that game 99-88 behind 27 points from Charlie Parker. The Marauders has won two in a row, but Kutztown won the previous six meetings, two of which came in overtime. 

THE LAST TIME OUT
•    The Millersville men's basketball team fought back from an 11-point second half deficit, but a late Mercyhurst basket forced overtime and the home team took care of business from there, as the No. 21 Lakers downed the Marauders by a score of 70-66.
•    Mercyhurst (12-1) used three baskets from Brian McTear and a sluggish start by the Millersville offense to build a 13-4 lead just over eight minutes into the game. The Marauders (6-7) struggled out of the gate, as they could only muster a Makal Stibbins bucket and a pair of free throws from Jason Blake in starting the game 1-of-9 from the floor.
•    Millersville's cold start would quickly disappear. After a Jordan Armstrong layup gave the Lakers an 18-9 lead, the Marauders went to work. Freshman Cullen Murray-Kemp drained a three, classmate Brandon Widener finished off a fast-break, and Stibbins slammed one home, as Millersville went on a quick 7-0 run to cut the Mercyhurst lead to two. Senior guard Reggie Bates then finished a feed from Blake to give the Marauders nine unanswered points and tie the game at 18.
•    The Lakers, coming off their first loss of the season, responded with eight straight points from McTear, who finished with a game-high 25, to close the half. Millersville, despite the slow start, was still within striking distance at 26-22.
•    After trading baskets to start the second half, Mercyhurst got a bit of separation. Layups from Armstrong, McTear, and Stu Anglum gave the Lakers their largest lead of the game at 11 with 10:42 to go. From there, Millersville answered with the long ball. Bates, Widener and Murray-Kemp all knocked down three-pointers in a span of 95 seconds to cut the deficit to two. Murray-Kemp buried another three the next time down to give the gritty Marauders their first lead of the game at 46-45 with 6:45 remaining.
•    Mercyhurst got a layup to reclaim the lead, but it would be brief, as Murray-Kemp stuck another triple to put the Marauders ahead 49-47. Murray-Kemp's third consecutive three-point field goal was the fifth straight from beyond the arc for Millersville.
•    Two free throws from Widener put the Marauders ahead with 36 seconds left, but McTear finished a layup with six seconds to go, the Marauders couldn't get a shot off at the buzzer, and Millersville headed for its first overtime of the season.
•    The Lakers would build a five point lead in the overtime on a three-pointer by Nnamdi Nnadili, but the Marauders were able to get it back to a single possession game when Bates sank a pair of free throws to make it 68-66 with 44 seconds to play. Unfortunately, the Marauders comeback bid fell short following a turnover with under 10 seconds to play. Mercyhurst would convert their foul shots en route to a 70-66 win.
•    Widener finished with a team-high 19 points, while Bates scored 18, and Murray-Kemp netted 14. The Marauders matched a season-high with nine threes (9-of-22) and shot 8-of-13 (61.5%) from deep in the second half. Stibbins saw his six-game double-figure scoring streak come to an end, but still ripped down a game-high 11 rebounds for Millersville. Blake pitched in with seven points and six assists in the loss.

THE MAGIC NUMBERS
•    Millersville is 5-0 when shooting at least 43.8 percent from the field. In the team's seven losses, it has shot under 40 percent four times and has converted fewer than 35 percent of its 3-point attempts six times.  The Marauders are also 5-0 when scoring at least 71 points.

EMERGING ROOKIES
•    A pair of freshmen contributed some much-needed offensive production in the PSAC crossovers against Slippery Rock and Mercyhurst. Cullen Murray-Kemp scored in double figures in both games. His 10-point effort against Slippery Rock was the first double-figure game of his career. The next day against Mercyhurst, he made his first career start and tossed in a career-high 14 points. He played a career-high minutes in both games and shot 8-of-19 on the weekend including 7-of-13 from behind the arc. Prior to those two games, he had hit just 15-of-45 shots (33.3 percent) and just 7-of-24 from 3-point range. His previous career high was seven points.
•    Classmate Brandon Widener led Millersville with 19 points in a career-high 28 minutes on Jan. 11 at Mercyhurst. He hit 6-of-9 shots including 4-of-5 from 3-opint range. Entering the game, he had scored a total of 15 points, nine of which came from the free throw line. He had made just three field goals and no 3-pointers entering the game. It was just the second time this season that a player other than Makal Stibbins or Reggie Bates led the team in scoring.

WINNING RESOLUTION
•    Since the records started being tracked in 1983-84, the month of January has been Millersville's most successful. The Marauders have posted a 166-70 mark (.703) during that span and is 64-39 (.621) in 11 seasons under Fred Thompson.

INSIDE HELP
•    Sophomore center Rob Coney earned the second start of his career on Jan. 4 against California and responded with a career-high 12 points and eight rebounds. It was the first time he had scored in double figures. It was also the first time he had scored a point since Dec. 3—a stretch of four games. The eight rebounds came within three of his career high which he set in the season opener against Penn State Abington. He played 34 minutes against California, marking only the fourth time this year he has played more than 10 minutes and it was 15 more minutes than his previous career high.

MAKAL'S MARKSMANSHIP
•    Makal Stibbins is averaging career bests in points, rebounds, and blocks, but maybe what's most impressive is his shooting accuracy. Along with ranking 16th in the PSAC in scoring (14.7 points per game), he enters the week leading the PSAC in field goal percentage. He has converted 81-of-124 chances (.653). Stibbins has attempted more field goals than all but two players ranked in the top 10  and has converted more than 14 of the 15 players ranked.
•    Stibbins has shot under 50 percent from the field in just two  games this year and has shot better than 70 percent from the field eight times.
•    If Stibbins maintains his shooting percentage throughout the season, he will shatter John Fox's '87 single season school record of .642.

CLEANING THE GLASS
•    Makal Stibbins leads the Marauders and is tied for fourth in the PSAC in rebounding at 8.7 per game. He also ranks fourth in defensive rebounds per game (5.8) and seventh in offensive rebounds per game (2.8).
•    Stibbins has led the team in rebounding in 10 of the last 11 games and has tallied double figure boards eight times. He has grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds five times this season.  Only two other Millersville players—Reggie Bates and Rob Coney—have turned in a double digit rebound performance this year. Bates grabbed 10 and Coney pulled down 11 in the season opener.

SEEING DOUBLE
•    After playing 62 games without a double-double, Makal Stibbins has totaled six so far in 2008-09. He has matched a career-high with 11 rebounds five times. He also set a career in points twice as well, totaling 17 against Penn State Abington and then pouring in 26 against W.Va. State on Dec. 6.
•    Stibbins recorded a double-double six times in the first eight games.
•    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 13 double-doubles in the last 18 games including seven in the first eight games of this season.

BLOCK PARTY
•    Millersville has blocked at least two shots in 11 of 13 games this season and has had a player block three or more nine times.
•    As a team, Millersville is ranked ninth in the 16-team PSAC with 3.5 blocks per game.
•    Makal Stibbins has been the team leader in blocks in 10 games and his 26 blocks are 19 more than any other player on the team. He enters the week ranked third in the PSAC with 2.0 blocked shots per game and is just 0.2 blocks per game behind the leader.
•    Stibbins has totaled at least one block in 11 of 13 games and has blocked two or more six times.
•    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.

MARAUDER MILESTONES
•    Millersville's men's basketball program began in 1899 and since then, it has compiled 1,299 wins, leaving it just one victory 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 three seasons, but Reggie Bates has rapidly climbed up the all-time scoring list. His career average of 16.1 points per game and 1,241 total points places him 23rd all-time and just 11 points behind Kenny Brown '93 for 22nd. He passed Lyman Reifsnyder '42 and Joe Labatch '56 in the first game of the season and has jumped 11 spots already this 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 11 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 scored a season-high 29 points on Jan. 4 against California and has not been held under 10 points in the last 15 games he has played dating back to last season. The senior guard is averaging just over 19 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 currently ranks eighth in the PSAC in scoring average (17.9).
•    Bates scored 25 points against IUP on Jan. 3 and 29 against Cal on Jan. 4 giving him three 20-point efforts this season and 19 for his career.
•    Bates has scored at least 11 points in each of his 12 games this season and has converted at least five field goals in 11 straight. He has also led the team in scoring six times.