Millersville, Pa. - Millersville was held to its lowest shooting percentage and lowest point total of the season, and at the same time, West Chester hammered the glass for 15 offensive boards that led to 21 second-chance points in a 72-63 win for the Golden Rams Saturday afternoon.

The Marauders mustered just 22 first-half points, making just 8-of-29 shots and 1-of-11 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes. The Marauders finished shooting 35.6 percent from the field--the first time all season they dipped below 41 percent. Millersville's five threes also matched a season low.

West Chester entered the game as the top rebounding team in the PSAC and solidified that standing by out-rebounding the Marauders 50-33. Millersville was often one-and-done on the offensive end, managing just eight second-chance points. West Chester's rebounding margin was key to offsetting its 35.5 percent shooting and 18 turnovers.

"I think the game got away from us in the first half," said Millersville head coach Casey Stitzel. "We didn't play the way we do when we're successful on offense in the first half. We did do well on defense in the first half. They switched defenses a lot which can be tough on a younger basketball team, but we got away from sharing the ball. We only had one stretch in the beginning of the second half that we played the way we're capable of playing on offense."

Millersville trailed by eight at the break, but freshman Jaden Faulkner's aggressive, driving attack, helped the Marauders open the second half on a 14-4 run. With 16:47 left in the game, Marcus Adkison drilled a 3-pointer off a Faulkner pass that gave the Marauders their first and only lead of the game, 36-34. In that short stretch, Faulkner scored seven and assisted on three others makes. A West Chester timeout halted the Millersville momentum, though, and Jackson Hyland and Malik Jackson hit back-to-back threes out of the break.

Millersville stayed within two (47-45), but Millersville missed its next five shots while West Chester made 4-fo-6 shots, two threes and all five free throws for a 15-2 run over the next 4:01. With just over five minutes remaining, the hole was too deep for Millersville to crawl out.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• Faulkner led all scorers with 18 points, 10 of which came at the line. He also added a game-high six assists.
• Adkison added 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting, making 4-of-8 from three, but three of those triples came in the final six minutes with Millersville already trailing by double-figures. He was limited to two points in the first half.

NOTES
• West Chester has won 10 in a row over Millersville including five in a row in Pucillo Gymnasium.
• Faulkner has scored 15 or more and totaled four or more assists in each of the last four games.
• Millersville entered the game ranked 11th in Division II in steals per game, and totaled 10, hitting double-digits for the seventh time this season.

QUOTABLE
• "I'm a big believer in adversity. We're a young team that's trying to figure out how to win. We've won against teams we're better than and we have to learn how to win against good teams. The past two years we've lost games where we were the more talented team. This year we've done a great job of beating teams that we're better than. Six of our seven wins are by 20 or more points. The next step is playing a full 40 minutes against a great team like West Chester. What's good is that we have another opportunity to play another very good team on Wednesday in Shippensburg. Sometimes games like this are more beneficial to growth than beating a team you're better than by 20 points." - Casey Stitzel

UP NEXT
• Millersville hosts PSAC East-leading Shippensburg on Wednesday, Jan. 9 at 7:30 p.m.
 

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