Newark, Del. - When Millersville and Wilmington meet, the game is sure to come down to the wire. For the final 30-plus minutes, neither team led by more than six points, and it took a late run for the homestanding Wildcats to edge the visiting Marauders 77-71 Tuesday night.
After Tuesday, nine of the last 11 meetings between the teams have been decided by six points or fewer. Early, however, it looked like a runaway for Wilmington as it built a 15-point lead in the first 10 minutes of action. The Marauders outscored Wilmington 27-8 over the rest of the first half to take a 38-36 lead into the break. But despite the run, to Millersville head coach
Casey Stitzel, the opening 10 minutes were the difference.
"It was the first 10 for us," said Stitzel. "They made more plays down the stretch, but what we did in the first 10 minutes, we are just beating ourselves. It is something we have to get better at as a young team. We had six or seven missed lay-ups to start the game. We had some missed foul shots. We did not take the defensive scouting report into the game. We go on a run and get up two, but we should be up 12. At that point, the home team isn't as comfortable. We will get better at closing games, but we have to be better in the first 10 minutes. We can't hope things go our way, we have to make things go our way."
Millersville led 56-51 with just over nine minutes remaining, but Wilmington Jordan Harding hit a three and Danny Walsh scored on a drive to tie the game. The teams traded the lead five more times over the next six minutes. With 2:31 to play, Jermaine Head, clanked in a turnaround, off-balance heave from the left wing to give Wilmington a 68-64 edge.
James Sullivan answered with one of his three threes, but Head came right back with one of his own to push the Wildcats' lead back to four. Head scored five of his nine points on those back-to-back possessions and he was just 2 of 10 from the field before those two makes.
"When you aren't doing the right thing as a team, those kinds of shots will go in a lot more often," said Stitzel. "They tend to miss when you are playing a good, smart game. We have to make our own luck with that."
At the other end,
Marcus Adkison looked to counter off a handoff but missed short. Millersville could get no closer than two the rest of the way. Wilmington broke Millersville's press for an easy dunk with 24 seconds left, and Walsh iced the game with two free throws late.
Wilmington outscored the Marauders 26-15 in the final 10 minutes and 41-33 in the second half just days after scoring 41 in the second half to beat West Chester, 68-64.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• Millersville committed a season-high 16 turnovers, which resulted in 17 points for Wilmington.
• Sullivan scored a season-high 19 points on 6 of 10 shooting, hitting 3 of 5 from three and 4 of 4 from the line.
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Jaden Faulkner hit double figures for the second consecutive game, scoring 14 on 7 of 14 shooting while also adding a team-high seven assists.
• Adkison recorded his second career double-double (and second of the season) with 13 points and 10 rebounds. He made 3 of 6 from 3-point range.
• Wilmington made 8 of 20 (.400) 3-pointers. Millersville held its first four opponents to under 40 percent shooting from three, but each of the last two have shot 40 percent or better.
NOTES
• Wilmington has now won three in a row in the series, and all three have been decided by six points or fewer. Millersville has lost four in a row at Wilmington with its last road win in the series coming in 1997-98.
• Millersville won or was even in the rebounding battle just twice all of last season but has done so three times in the first six games of 2018-19. The Marauders and Wildcats both had 37 rebounds.
QUOTABLE
• "Every guy we are playing right now has the chance to be a really good Division II player. Jaden played a nice game and can play even better. He left some points on the floor with some missed layups and foul shots. James is a player who is starting to make those extra plays in practice. It was good to see him do it in a game. We just need to get more consistent efforts from everybody. When everyone plays up to their ability, that's when we can be a really good basketball team. It won't happen overnight. We will just have to keep getting guys comfortable to where they can play up to their full potential." -
Casey Stitzel
UP NEXT
• PSAC play starts on Saturday, Dec. 1 against California (Pa.) at Pucillo Gymnasium. The following afternoon, IUP, ranked No. 3 in Division II, comes to Pucillo for a 3 p.m. tip.
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