GAME INFORMATION
Millersville (11-5, 7-3 PSAC) vs. West Chester (10-4, 8-2 PSAC)
Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013 - 3 p.m.
Hollinger Field House, West Chester, Pa.
MEDIA INFORMATION
Audio Broadcast (MSBN)
Live Stats
SERIES INFORMATION
Series vs. WCU: 95-91
Series Streak: WCU, 1
First Meeting: 1903 (WCU 30, MU 10)
Last Meeting: 2012 (WCU 81, MU 70)
Last 10: 6-4
Fred Thompson vs. WCU: 13-17
Damien Blair vs. Millersville: 4-4
GAME NOTES
· Millersville improved to 11-5 overall, 7-3 in PSAC play and 2-0 against PSAC Eastern Division opponents with a 56-48 home win over Cheyney Wednesday. With 12 league games remaining on the schedule, the Marauders already have as many league wins as it posted last season (7-15) and more than in any season since posting an 8-4 mark against only Eastern Division teams in 2008-09. The Marauders, however, enter a pivotal stretch of games beginning Saturday at West Chester and then traveling to East Stroudsburg on Wednesday. ESU and West Chester are currently the PSAC East's top two teams with Millersville sits in third. Two road wins would go a long way toward helping Millersville to its first Eastern Division title since 2006-07.
· Home court is everything in this series. The home team has won each of the last eight meetings. Since 1995, Millersville has won only two of 18 games played in Hollinger Field House (just 1-15 in the regular season), and the last win in the building came in the 2007-08 regular season finale. The Marauders have failed to score more than 70 inside Hollinger Field House since 2004 and has averaged just 59.3 points per game over the last nine trips to the building. Millersville holds a slight 95-91 lead in the all-time series that dates back to 1903-04. Other than a two-year stretch during World War II, the two programs have met each season since 1914-15.
· Millersville boasts the PSAC's best and Division II's ninth-best 3-point field goal percentage defense (27.9) and the PSAC's third-best scoring defense (60.5). Away from Pucillo, it's been a different story. The Marauders are 3-3 in road/neutral site games (3-1 against the PSAC) and are allowing 71.3 points per game and 32.9 percent shooting from three. The team's offense, however, is also better on the road, improving from 63.7 to 75.2 points per game, and the shooting percentage jumping from 39.8 to 45.7.
· After totaling at least eight rebounds in each of the first 15 games,
Elijah Obade, the nation's leading rebounder, managed a season-low six boards and a season-low four points against Cheyney. Obade also averaged 3.0 blocks per game over the first 13 games but has totaled two total in the last three. Obade had blocked a shot in 21 consecutive games until coming up empty against California. The Marauders are 6-1 when he blocks three or more shots.
· Xavier Mumford provided the Marauders with some energy Wednesday, and he tallied his first career double-double with 13 points and 12 boards. It was his fourth game scoring in double figures and his second game with 12 or more rebounds. He's especially dangerous on the offensive glass with 42 percent of his total rebounds being offensive.
ABOUT WEST CHESTER
· West Chester was picked second in the PSAC East preseason poll and through the first 10 games of PSAC play, that's just where the Golden Rams stand with an 8-2 record. West Chester is not especially outstanding at any one thing, ranking seventh in the PSAC in scoring offense and scoring defense, 12th in field goal percentage and 10th in field goal percentage defense, 15th in 3-point field goal shooting and eight in 3-point defense. Only Corey Blake (11.9) averages more than 10 points per game and he also leads the team with 5.5 rebounds. Still, the Golden Rams have won five in a row--four in a row and six of seven at home. After back-to-back two-point wins over Gannon and Mercyhurst, West Chester beat Kutztown 73-59 Wednesday behind a season-high 17 points from Troy Hockaday. Seven different players have led the Golden Rams in scoring over the last eight games.
