Millersville, Pa. - Fueled by Caden Najdawi's career-high 25 points and a 3-point shooting barrage that included Marcus Adkison totaling 26 points on seven threes, Millersville's men's basketball rolled past visiting California (Pa.) 84-63 in Saturday's PSAC opener.

Millersville started PSAC play with a win and moved above .500 at 4-3 after losing two consecutive road games. The Marauders also improved to 3-0 at home.

"It's always important to get that first win, especially when your first two games are back-to-back and (No. 3-ranked) IUP is the second one," said Millersville head coach Casey Stitzel. "It's important to get some confidence in the first game before playing what will probably be the best team we play all year. We didn't play to our potential our last two games. We wanted to respond well to that and I thought they did."

Millersville drilled 14 of 27 threes and shot 52.5 percent from the field, including 63.6 percent in the first half. Millersville led by as many as 29 after a 22-7 run from 16:42 to 9:48 in the second half in which Adkison scored 15 points, hitting 5 of 6 threes in the span.

The run put the game away, but Millersville was in control for the majority of action, leading for more than 34 minutes. After breaking a 10-10 tie, Millersville out-scored California 41-22 the last 13 minutes of the first half. Millersville hit 15 of 20 shots in that stretch, 11 of which came from Najdawi.

"I don't think we let them get closer than 14 points today," said Stitzel." This is a young team that is still learning to be consistent, but I thought they did a good job of not letting them get too close."

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• After scoring four and five points in Millersville's last two games (both losses), Najdawi hit 10 of 14 shots to top 20 points for the first time in his career. His 10 rebounds gave him his second career double-double.
• For the second time in his career, Adkison's 3-point shooting blitzed the Vulcans. He made 7 of 12 Saturday, and a little under two years ago, Adkison led Millersville to win over the Vulcans by scoring 32 with nine threes made.
• James Sullivan scored double-figures for the fifth consecutive game, totaling 12 on 5 of 9 shooting. He also matched a career-high eight assists.

NOTES
• Millersville improved to 44-20 all-time against California and has won two in a row. It was Millersville's widest margin of victory over California since a 25-point win in 1994-95.
• Adkison's 26 was a season-high and the fourth time this season he topped 20 points.

QUOTABLE
• "When [Najdawi] plays well we're a different basketball team. When he keeps his energy up and is active on offense and defense he can be one of, if not the best big guy in the conference." - Casey Stitzel

UP NEXT
• Millersville hosts No. 3-ranked Indiana (Pa.) Sunday at 3 p.m.
 

---

FOLLOW THE MARAUDERS
• Be the first to know what's going on with the Marauders -- Follow @VilleMarauders on Twitter and Instagram, become a fan of Millersville Athletics on Facebook, visit our Social Media page and download our mobile app from the Apple Store and Google Play! To support the Marauders, join the Black & Gold Club.