Box Score New Castle, Del. - Millersville men's basketball erased a 16-point deficit in the second half only to surrender a 6-0 run to homestanding Wilmington in the final minute of a 76-72 season opening loss Thursday night. 

Sophomore Kyle Richardson scored a career-high 24 points--three fewer than he scored in his entire freshman season--and sparked a stirring comeback that saw the Marauders go from down 50-34 with 17 minutes left to in front 70-69 with 3:01 to go. Wilmington (1-3), however, scored five of its final seven points from the free throw line and Millersville (0-1) came up empty on four consecutive shots in the last minute. 

Richardson hit 7-of-14 shots including 7-of-8 from the free throw line to lead all scorers. True freshman Tavon Parker made a splash in his collegiate debut with 16 points including back-to-back 3-pointers that were key to Millersville's comeback. Fellow newcomer Christian McNeely scored 10 on 3-of-5 shooting before fouling out. 

Millersville started the game like a a team with 10 newcomers playing its first game. Wilmington, with three games already played, raced to an 8-0 lead and pushed its first half advantage to as many 10 until Richardson buried back-to-back triples to make the margin 29-24. Wilmington pushed the advantage back to 12 at the half, though, thanks to 68 percent shooting in the first period. 

Wilmington continued to pushed the lead early in the second period, and lay-up from Shai Henry gave the Wildcats their biggest lead of the game. The Wildcats still held a 10-point lead with 6:36 to go. McNeely hit a pair of free throws, Richardson scored on drive and converted a three-point play, and McNeely and Parker split a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to 65-62 with 4:58 left.

A triple from Parker with 4:44 left pulled Millersville within two, and after a Wilmington free throw, Parker tied the game with another three. Wilmington's Dennis Herbert made one of two free throws, and Richardson answered with two of his own to give Millersville's its first lead of the game. 

The Marauders got a defensive stop and had three shots on one offensive trip to extend the lead, but all three rimmed out. Wilmington took advantage of Millersville's aggressive defense by hitting four consecutive free throws while Millersville went cold on offense. A lay-up from Ta'Vaune Griffin put the lead at 75-70 with 22 seconds left. 

Wilmington made 12 free throws and 10 field goals in the second period and ended the game shooting 54 percent from the field and 21-of-30 from the line. Two Marauders fouled out of the game. Five Wilmington players scored in double figures. 

Millersville shot 38.3 percent from the field and hit just 58.6 percent from the line. Xavier Mumford hauled in 12 rebounds and blocked three shots. 

Millersville opens its home schedule on Saturday at 7 p.m. against Rutgers-Camden.