East Stroudsburg, Pa. - Millersville's winning streak was stopped at five in a 78-62 loss at East Stroudsburg Wednesday evening. East Stroudsburg's relentless, full-court pressure forced the Marauders into a season-high 23 turnovers and 38.9 percent shooting. 

East Stroudsburg (13-6, 9-3 PSAC) came into the game as the top ranked team in Division II at creating turnovers and Millersville (12-8, 8-5 PSAC) could not find its offensive rhythm, turning the ball over more than 20 times for the first time all season and shooting under 40 percent for just the second time. Millersville, the PSAC's No. 2-ranked team in turnovers forced and steals, caused ESU to cough the ball up 20 times, but ESU made amends for its mistakes by shooting 47.4 percent from the field and making 8-of-23 3-pointers. 

"I think it was a little bit of fatigue, trying to make the really good play rather than make the easy play," said Millersville head coach Casey Stitzel. "Against (East Stroudsburg), making the solid play sometimes is making the spectacular play. Early in the game, it wasn't the press--it was their speed on makes that hurt us in transition. We went from Lock Haven and Gannon who play so slow to this. That is where the youth and lack of experience come in."

Freshman point guard Jaden Faulkner led the Marauders with 20 points and three steals. He scored 16 of those points in the second half. His absence in the first half was noticeable as Millersville trailed 40-29 at the break with Faulkner playing just 10 minutes while saddled with three early fouls. But with Faulkner back in the lineup to start the second, the Marauders ripped off an 11-4 run that included a pair of buckets, a steal and an assist from Faulkner. The Marauders never got closer than four, though, and missed shots and turnovers caused the offense to lose traction midway through the final period, allowing East Stroudsburg to open a double-digit lead. 

After Justin Nwosu's bucket with 10:08 to play made the score 56-48, the Marauders went more than four minutes without a field goal and fell behind 67-50 with 6:37 left. 

"That's where the careless turnovers came in and the 'I'm going to get us back in the game' came in rather than trusting what we do. We had stretches where we were really good but there were too many bad stretches, especially early, where we got away from what got us a five-game winning streak."

"The big advantage is that we played them on the road," said Stitzel. "We've experienced it, and seen it and hopefully make some adjustments when we play them at home."

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• Justin Nwosu followed his 19-point performance against Gannon with 18 on 5-of-11 shooting from the field Wednesday. Nwosu also made 6-of-8 foul shots and 2-of-3 from three. 
• Caden Najdawi totaled 10 points and eight rebounds. Leading scorer Marcus Adkison was limited to season-low four points on 2-of-9 shooting and did not make a three for just the ninth time in his 75 career games. 

NOTES
• East Stroudsburg has now won 12 in a row at home against the Marauders and nine in a row overall. 
• Millersville dropped to 4-2 on the road in PSAC play and are now 2-7 when trailing at the half. 
• Wednesday's loss was only the second time this season that Millersville has lost a game by more than nine points. 
• A freshman has led Millersville in scoring in back-to-back games. Faulkner has led the Marauders in scoring five times. 

QUOTABLE
"When the schedule came out I would go through and see who we would play. I circled this stretch. It's not just being on the road. It's being on the road against good teams--some of the better teams. It is going to challenge us but I think this group will be up for the challenge. One of things I really like about this group is that they make adjustments off of failure. We are a type of team that learns from failure. We weren't going to win 16 straight to end the year. You lose a game, you regroup, get better. This group has done a great job of that and I don't expect anything else from them." - Casey Stitzel

UP NEXT
• Millersville continues its three-game road swing Saturday, Feb. 2 with a trip to Mansfield. Tip is set for 3 p.m. 

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