Box Score Kutztown, Pa. - The 250th win of
Fred Thompson's career was a big one for the 2013-14 squad. Behind a career night from
Carl Wallace and 26 points from
Kelvin Parker, Millersville clinched a PSAC Tournament berth by scoring a 94-89 PSAC East road victory over Kutztown Saturday night.
The win pulled Millersville's (11-11, 7-6 PSAC East) record back to .500 at 11-11 and jumped the club past Kutztown (8-15, 6-7 PSAC East) in the standings. The Marauders also pulled even with Lock Haven for the No. 4 seed, which would guarantee a first round home game. Millersville also clinched its second consecutive PSAC Tournament berth and its ninth under Thompson.
Millersville entered Saturday with a 1-10 road record and averaging just 70.8 points in those games. Millersville pushed aside those road woes by scoring a season-high point total. The Marauders made 10-of-20 3-pointers, giving the club a new school record for threes made in a season with 221. The previous mark of 217 was set in 2000-01.
The tandem of Wallace and Parker combined for 52 of those season-high 94 points. Wallace provided 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field, besting his previous career high by 12 points. Parker, who scored a career-high 28 on Wednesday against Mansfield, made 7-of-15 shots from the field, 4-of-8 from three and 8-of-8 from the line. Parker has now scored at least 20 points in five of the last six games and in six of his 10 games as a Marauder.
The Marauders took the lead for good on a
Brandon Brown layup with 2:39 left in the first half and advanced the lead to 10 with just 1:33 left in the game. Kutztown, however, made the Marauders earn their second road win of the season.
Brown hit one of two free throws to put Millersville in front 84-74, but Kutztown proceeded to score 17 points in the final minute and a half. Kutztown cut Millersville's advantage to just three points two times in the last minute, but
Tyree Smith,
Jalen Lester and Parker made six consecutive free throws down the stretch to keep Millersville in front.
Millersville shot 29-of-58 from the field, marking the first time all season it has hit 50 percent of its shots in a game. The Marauders also limited Kutztown to just 4-of-13 from behind the arc.
Nate Bollinger handed out a career-high seven assists, and
Brandon Brown matched a season high with 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field and 2-of-3 from three.
Wallace and Parker were quite the midseason pick-ups for the Marauders. The team is 8-5 since Wallace joined the team in December. Parker is averaging 19.4 points per game in a Marauder uniform.
Thompson, now in his 16th season at Millersville, joined Richard DeHart and John Kochan as Marauder coaches with 250 wins (250-194). He is the second fastest to the mark and he is the only active coach in the PSAC East and one of only three active coaches in the 18-team PSAC with 250 wins.
The remainder of the regular season schedule sets up well for the Marauders with two of three games at home where the team is 9-1. The lone road game is against a Shippensburg team that has yet to win a PSAC East game. The Marauders host Cheyney on Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 8 p.m.