GAME QUICK FACTS
Millersville (6-13, 0-6) at East Stroudsburg (13-7, 3-3)
Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2009 - 8 p.m.
Kohler Field House, East Stroudsburg, Pa.

West Chester (13-6, 4-2) at Millersville
Saturday, Feb. 7, 2009 - 3 p.m.
Pucillo Gymnasium, Millersville, Pa.

COVERAGE
Audio: MSBN
Live Stats (Millersville at East Stroudsburg)
Live Stats (Millersville vs. West Chester)

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

ABOUT THE GAMES
•    The Millersville men's basketball team faces a pair of stiff challenges this week against two teams in the thick of the PSAC Tournament chase. Wednesday's opponent East Stroudsburg is currently 3-3 in the league and Saturday's opponent West Chester is 4-2 in the PSAC East. Millersville, meanwhile, is trying to avoid its first eight-game skid since 1982-83.  Eight losses in a row stand as the most consecutive defeats in school history.
•    On Saturday, Millersville Athletics presents the Eighth Annual Take a Kid to Carnival Day on Feb. 7. Kids ages 11 and under get in free with the purchase of an adult ticket. Join NCAA mascot J.J. Jumper in all the fun and excitement. There will also be free games, prizes, popcorn and face painting with Millersville athletes.
 •     During Millersville's losing streak, the team has shot 39.2 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from 3-point range while its opponents are hitting 49.1 percent of its shots from the field and 35.7 percent from behind the arc. Millersville is also shooting just 56.2 percent from the free throw line and is being outscored by an average of 13.7 points per game. The Marauders have also committed 120 turnovers to just 71 assists.
•    Fred Thompson is 88-61 all-time against the PSAC East. Prior to this season, none of his teams had ever started 0-4 in the league.  It is just the third time a Millersville team has started 0-6 in PSAC East play since 1963-64. Divisional play began in 1960-61 and only once (1963-64) has a Millersville team started league play 0-8.
•    Both contests will be broadcast live on the Marauders Sports Broadcasting Network (MSBN). Fans can access the broadcast on www.millersvilleathletics.com. Live stats for the East Stroudsburg contest can be accessed at http://www4.esu.edu/athletics/m_sports/basketball/livestats/xlive.htm. Live stats for Saturday's game against West Chester can be viewed on www.millersvilleathletics.com.

ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
•    East Stroudsburg enters Wednesday's clash with a 12-7 overall record and a 3-3 mark in the PSAC East. The Warriors opened conference play with three-straight wins but have since lost three in a row to Cheyney, Mansfield and West Chester. All three losses were by fewer than five points. The losses to Cheyney and West Chester were the only two home losses for the Warriors this season, as they boast an 8-2 home mark.
•    The Warriors are averaging an impressive 76.4 points per game, which ranks fifth in the league. They also rank fifth in scoring margin as they outscore opponents by an average of 9.8 points per game. East Stroudsburg makes opponents pay at the free throw line as well. ESU has 463 attempts—the second most in the PSAC—and have converted on 72.6 percent, which is the second-best mark in the league.
•    Chris Bach is East Stroudsburg's leader in points and rebounds. He is fourth in the league at 18.8 points per game and is the only player ranked in the top eight that has not made a 3-pointer all season. He also ranks seventh in rebounding at 8.3 per outing. He has totaled five double-doubles this year.
•    West Chester enters the week still in contention for the PSAC East crown with a 13-6 overall record and a 4-2 PSAC East mark. The Golden Rams snapped a two-game skid with a 73-68 win at East Stroudsburg on Jan. 31 and travel to Shippensburg Wednesday before visiting Millersville on Saturday.
•    Ralph Hegamin is one of only two players in the PSAC averaging a double-double. His 18.5 points per game is eighth in the league and his 10.2 rebounds per game are second most.
•    Hegamin is one of three Golden Rams averaging double figures. Kenneth St. George, an All-PSAC East pick last year, is averaging 15.6 points per game, and Kehinde Roberts is averaging 13.9 points per outing. 

THE SERIES
•    Wednesday is the 139th all-time meeting between Millersville and East Stroudsburg. The Marauders hold a commanding 95-43 lead in the
series. Millersville has won three of the last four and 13 of 17 since 2000. Fred Thompson is 16-5 against East Stroudsburg as well. With one point,
•    Millersville will have scored 10,000 points all-time against East Stroudsburg.
•    Last season, the two clubs split a pair of meetings. Millersville earned a 68-66 overtime victory on Feb. 2 but fell 77-73 at East Stroudsburg behind 21 points and nine rebounds from Chris Bach.
•    Millersville holds a slight 91-88 edge all-time against West Chester and has won three of the last four. West Chester, however, is 14-10 against Millersville in the Fred Thompson era and is one of only two PSAC teams and the only PSAC East team to have a winning record against Thompson.
•    West Chester dealt Millersville a 93-67 loss at Hollinger Field House on Jan. 14, 2009, opening PSAC East play. The 93 points were the second most scored against Millersville all season and the most scored by West Chester against Millersville since totaling 104 in 1982. It was also the highest point total allowed by Millersville to a PSAC East opponent since giving up 107 to Mansfield in 1997.
•    Five Marauders scored in double figures in the game with Makal Stibbins leading the team with 15 points and eight rebounds. West Chester shot nearly 56 percent from the field and was paced by Ralph Hegamin's 22 points and 12 rebounds.

THE LAST TIME OUT
•    The Millersville men's basketball team held an eight point lead with 4:45 left in Saturday's PSAC Eastern Division match-up with Mansfield at Pucillo Gymnasium. The Mountaineers, however, quickly rallied and snatched a victory away from the Marauders by a 63-59 final.
•    Millersvillle (6-13, 0-6 PSAC East) and Mansfield (11-7, 4-2 PSAC East) traded the lead 10 times in the first half alone, but a 5-0 Marauder run sparked by a Palmer McDurfee 3-pointer and a Reggie Bates lay-up off a steal, gave the home team a 30-25 lead at the half.
•    Millersville continued to control the second, pushing the lead to as many as nine points on seven occassions. But Mansfield's Chris Pender buried a 3-pointer with 4:34 left in the half to cut the Millersville lead to 55-50. The Marauders came up empty on their next three possessions, and Mansfield took advantage, using back-to-back three-point plays by Useff Carr and Tony Fannick to take the lead 56-55.
•    McDurfee answered with a driving lay-up, but Fannick came right back with a jumper of his own, retaking the lead for Mansfield. On Millersville's next trip, Brandon Widener missed his first attempt but the athletic freshman grabbed his own rebound and put it right back for two points and a Millersville 59-58 lead.
•    Mansfield, however, got a layup from Carr 17 seconds later and Millersville could not connect on its final two trips. Mansfield cushioned the lead with free throws.
•    It was a bitter defeat for the Marauders, who have dropped seven in a row and six-straight to start conference play. Mansfield, meanwhile, pushed its winning streak to three.
•    Mansfield, which shot just 32.1 percent in the first half, connected on 47.8 percent of its shots in the second period, while the Marauders dropped from 50 percent in the first to 38.5 percent in the second.
•    Bates and Makal Stibbins led the Marauders with 16 points apiece, and Stibbins also added seven rebounds, two blocks and a pair of steals. Widener chipped in 12 points and four rebounds. Jason Blake also added six points to go with a team-high five assists.

EMERGING ROOKIES
•    A pair of freshmen have provided some much-needed offensive production in recent weeks. Cullen Murray-Kemp has scored at least nine points in six of the last eight games.  He averaged 11.2 points per game and shooting 42.1 percent from the field during that span. He also cashed in 18-of-38 3-point attempts during the six-game stretch. He hit at least three 3-pointers in five of those six games. His last two games, however, he has managed just three points total.
•    His 10-point effort against Slippery Rock was the first double-figure game of his career. His 14 against Mercyhurst was a career-high effort. Since then, he has scored in double figure five times.
•    Prior to the last eight 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 has broke out as well. On Jan. 21 against Shippensburg, he scored a career-high 24, becoming just the third player on Millersville's roster to score 20 points in a game this season. He also led Millersville with 19 points on Jan. 11 at Mercyhurst.
•    In his last seven outings, he is averaging a team-best 12.9 points per game and has scored in double-figures five times. During that span, he is shooting 49.2 percent from the field and 9-of-17 from 3-point range.
•    At Mercyhurst, he hit 6-of-9 shots including 4-of-5 from 3-point 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.

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 (14.4 points per game), he enters the week ranked second in the PSAC in field goal percentage. He has converted 109-of-180 chances (.606).
•    Stibbins has shot under 50 percent from the field in just four  games this year and has shot better than 70 percent from the field nine times.
•    If Stibbins keeps up the pace, he will have an opportunity to break John Fox's '87 single season school record of .642.

CLEANING THE GLASS
•    Makal Stibbins leads the Marauders and is sixth in the PSAC in rebounding at 8.4 per game. He also ranks seventh in defensive rebounds per game (5.6) and eighth in offensive rebounds per game (2.8).
•    Stibbins has led the team in rebounding in 14 of the last 16 games and has tallied double figure boards nine times. He has grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds six times this season.  Only three  other Millersville players—Reggie Bates, Rob Coney and Brandon Widener—have turned in a double digit rebound performance this year. Bates grabbed 10 and Coney pulled down 11 in the season opener.

SEEING DOUBLE
•    Brandon Widener entered select company on Jan. 21 against Shippensburg by totaling 25 points and 10 rebounds for his first career double-double. He is one of only three Millersville players to tally a double-double this season.
•    After playing 62 games without a double-double, Makal Stibbins has totaled seven so far in 2008-09. He has matched a career-high with 11 rebounds six 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 15 double-doubles in the last 24 games including seven in the first eight games of this season.

BLOCK PARTY
•    Millersville has blocked at least two shots in 14 of 19 games this season and has had a player block three or more 11 times.
•    Makal Stibbins has been the team leader in blocks in 14 games and his 33 blocks are 25 more than any other player on the team. He enters the week ranked sixth in the PSAC with 1.6 blocked shots per game.
•    Stibbins has totaled at least one block in 15 of 19 games and has blocked two or more nine 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 15.9 points per game and 1,308 total points places him 21st all-time and just 33 points behind Mike Monroe '91 for 20th. He passed Lyman Reifsnyder '42 and Joe Labatch '56 in the first game of the season and has jumped 13 spots already this season. Bates' scored 615 points a year ago and on his current pace, he would finish with 1,437 points and 13th all-time. 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.

SENIOR SCORER
•    Bates currently ranks 11th in the PSAC in scoring average (15.7).
•    At his current pace, he will finish the season as the team's leader in points scored and scoring average for the second year in a row. Only 16 players since 1948-49 have led Millersville in scoring at least two-straight seasons.
•    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 16 of his 18 games this season including the first 13 games of the season.
 •    Bates has led the team in scoring eight times this year.

ADVANTAGE PUCILLO
•    Since Fred Thompson took over the program in 1998-99, the Marauders are incredible 113-39 at home in Pucillo Gymnasium. The Marauders have posted a 30-9 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 44-19 PSAC East record during that stretch. Millersville is 9-4 against PSAC East teams in Pucillo in the last two seasons.