Box Score

Mansfield, Pa. - The Millersville men's basketball team made a late charge at homestanding Mansfield Saturday, but the Mountaineers received two free throws from Ryan Callahan in the final seconds to deal the Marauders a close 67-64 defeat.

The three-point loss Saturday was the fifth single-digit loss this season for the hard-luck Marauders, and it marked the fourth time in a span of seven games that Millersville (7-12, 2-4 PSAC East) has lost by fewer than eight points.

Mansfield (13-6, 4-2 PSAC East) entered the game as one of the best home teams in the PSAC, averaging 86.0 points per game in Decker Gymnasium. But Millersville's defense and deliberate offensive scheme limited Mansfield to its lowest point total of the season. The Mountaineers shot 40.7 percent from the field, and the Marauders forced 17 turnovers.

Still, Millersville could not quite keep pace with the Mountaineers. Millersville started quickly and led for most of the first half despite shooting 9-of-27 from the field. Mansfield's Chris Pender, however, snapped a tie game when he buried a 3-pointer as time expired to give the Mountaineers a 31-28 edge at the break.

Mansfield carried the momentum into the second half and extended the lead to as many as eight. But some timely shooting by Millersville's Jim Kelleher, who scored seven of his 1- points in the second half, kept the Marauders close.

With 3:22 left, Mansfield pushed the advantage nine, its largest of the game. Millersville missed its next three shot attempts, but Jason Blake found his way into the paint to pull within 62-55. Mike Seibert cut the deficit to five with a lay-up at 1:22, and a Rob Wyley bucket with 32 seconds left put the Marauders down just three.

Forced to foul, Millersville sent Callahan to the line where he hit 2-of-2. Millersville answered with two points from Alen Ahmetovic, but a trip to the free throw line for Mansfield resulted in a four point lead with 20 seconds to go. On Millersville's next offensive set, Palmer McDurfee hit a jumper to cut Mansfield's lead to 66-63 with six seconds remaining. Millersville immediately fouled, but Callahan knocked down both free throws to put the game out of reach.

Callahan was perfect on six attempts from the stripe and finished with 10 points. Yuseff Carr led all scorers with 18. The Marauders were paced by 14 points from Seibert. Blake added 11 points, McDurfee totaled eight points, six assists and five rebounds, and Ahmetovic chipped in nine points and nine boards. Ahmetovic also tallied a career-high six assists.

The Marauders return to action Wednesday evening when they hosts East Stroudsburg at 8 p.m.