Box Score Millersville, Pa. - The first win is almost always the toughtest to score. Nothing came easy for the Millersville men's basketball team against Wilmington Saturday at Pucillo Gymnasium. But using a late surge, the Marauders pulled away from a 55-52 win.

Millersville (1-2) overcame shooting 31.8 percent from the field thanks in part to Elijah Obade's double-double performance of 15 points and a career-high 16 rebounds. Eight of those boards came on the offensive glass. The contest stood tied 15 times and the lead changed hands 14 times. Neither team led by more than four points the entire game.

Wilmington (0-4) took its largest lead at 44-40 with 7:58 remaining on a layup from Shai Henry. Anthony Coleman answered with a jumper on the next Marauder possession, and quickly, the Marauders cranked up the tempo with a full court press. The press immediately resulted in a steal by Coleman, and Nate Bollinger was fouled in the act of shooting. He sank both foul shots to tie the game. Coleman recorded another steal and pushed the ball ahead to Larry Grant. Grant missed a contested breakaway attempt, but Xavier Mumford, who totaled seven boards in the game, picked up one of those when he tipped in the miss to give Millersville a 46-44 lead with 7:04 to go.

Wilmington tied the game twice in the last seven minutes, but the Marauders never trailed the rest of the way. WIth the score tied at 50-50, Obade grabbed an offensive rebound and turned it into a three-point play with 2:46 left to give the Marauders a three point lead. Wilmington cut the Marauder lead to two on two foul shots from Brandon Fox, but Coleman canned two fouls shots with a minute on the clock for the final scoring of the game.

Coleman matched a career high with three steals and also totaled nine points and five rebounds. Brandon Belt scored a season-high 13 points and made all three of Millersville's 3-pointers.

Wilmington shot 11-of-20 in the first half, but the Marauders improved defensively in the second, holding the Wildcats to 32.1 percent shooting and 1-of-10 shooting from three.

Millersville stretched its run of consecutive victories in home openers to seven and improved to 12-3 under Fred Thompson in home openers.

The Marauders look for back-to-back wins Sunday afternoon against University of the Sciences. Game time is 3 p.m.