Philadelphia, Pa. - Millersville men's basketball entered Tuesday's game at Jefferson as the No. 1 3-point field goal percentage defense in the PSAC. Jefferson changed that in 40 minutes, hitting 12 of 17 including six in a row in one stretch to pull away from the visiting Marauders, 97-81.
Millersville (3-2) had held its first four opponents to no more than six threes made and under 30 percent shooting. Jefferson (3-1), fresh off an overtime loss to No. 4-ranked St. Anselm, canned 31 of 51 shots (.607) and also made 23 of 29 foul shots. The epic shooting performance resulted in six Rams reaching double figures. Deondre Bourne led the charge with 25 points on 10 of 14 shooting from the field and 5 of 7 shooting from three.
The Marauders trailed by as many as 17 in the first half, and despite the Rams shooting 60.9 percent from the field and making 5 of 6 from three, Millersville whittled that deficit down to 42-35 at the break.
James Sullivan hit a 3-pointer to open the second, and
Marcus Adkison and
Caden Najdawi followed with back-to-back buckets, bringing Millersville to within 44-42 with 16:52 to play. Adkison then scored six in a row to keep Millersville within three at 49-46. But that's when the Rams really caught fire.
In their next three possessions, Jefferson hit two threes and converted a three-point play. After making one out of two free throws and a layup from Prince Hickson, the Rams hit two more threes, hit a jumper for two and converted another three-point play. The hits kept coming for the Rams as they scored on 13 consecutive possessions and scored 26 points in just over five minutes.
"They played really well," said Millersville head coach
Casey Stitzel. "We didn't play a good first 10, but we got right there, then they hit that stretch. We came back and got it to nine but couldn't get it past that. There were a lot of positives. It is just hard to withstand that kind of run."
Jefferson went on to score 55 points in the second half, making 7 of 11 threes.
"We do have to get better of taking scouting reports into games," said Stitzel. "We gave [our players] some tendencies and when the lights come on, a young team tends to forget that stuff. By the time that league play comes, we should be more tuned in to that. But [Jefferson] made a lot of tough shots. If we play them five times, four times some of those shots don't go in."
Millersville's run to get to within one possession was fueled by a small-ball lineup that included freshman
Jaden Faulkner playing a season-high 25 minutes for the second consecutive game. Faulkner made 7 of 10 shots for a career-high 16 points.
Marcus Adkison aided the attack with 22 points, making 9 of 9 foul shots and 6 of 14 shots from the floor.
"We just need to get more confident from game to game--know that we are a good team," said Stitzel. "Sometimes we take the court hoping things go our way instead of making them go our way. Once we made our run we got so much more aggressive at both ends. Jaden and Mekhi (Hendricks) came off the bench and gave us some great minutes. If you count what we did from 10 minutes in the first half to 10 minutes in the second, that's the team that can beat any one on a given night. We just have to be more consistent with that."
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• The teams combined to commit 45 fouls and shot a combined 56 free throws. Millersville's 22 made and 27 attempted were both season highs.
• Behind Adkison's 22 and alongside Faulkner's 16,
James Sullivan made 5 of 11 shots for 16 points.
• Freshman
Justin Nwosu, the reigning PSAC East Freshman of the Week, scored 11 for his third double-figure scoring performance in his five games.
NOTES
• Adkison has scored 20 or more points three times in five games and has hit double-figures in all five.
• Stitzel went head-to-head against one of his mentors, Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame member Herb Magee. Stitzel was an assistant coach at then-Philadelphia University under Magee before becoming the head coach at Delaware Valley.
QUOTABLE
• "(Faulkner) is a game changer. He has the ability to get to the rim. We posted him on some of the smaller guards. He makes everyone better. Every game that he plays, he gets back into a rhythm he had before he got hurt. He's getting more game experience. We have one non-conference game to get him ready for PSAC play. He's a really good freshman who is going to be a really good player for us for four years." -
Casey Stitzel
UP NEXT
• After a brief break for Thanksgiving, the Marauders travel to Wilmington on Nov. 27. PSAC play begins on Dec. 1 against California (Pa.) at Pucillo Gymnasium.
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