MILLERSVILLE, Pa. - After Millersville's 12-game winning streak came to an end last Wednesday, Coach Casey Stitzel decided to give his team an extended time off. The Marauders rested for four days during their weekend bye, and on Wednesday night in Pucillo Gymnasium, the team looked revitalized, beating West Chester 92-80. 

Millersville (22-5, 16-5 PSAC) led by as many as 29 points in the second half before a West Chester (16-10, 10-10 PSAC) flurry in the final minutes tightened the final difference. The win assured Millersville of first round bye in the upcoming PSAC Tournament, and put its magic number to clinch the PSAC East at one. Millersville can win its first division title with since 2007 with a win over Lock Haven Saturday. 

The well-rested Marauders were sharp against West Chester, drilling 52.4% of their shots from the field and 47.6% of their threes. They very nearly out-rebounded the No. 1-ranked rebounding team in the PSAC (37-36), and at the defensive end, the Marauders held West Chester without a 3-pointer until nine minutes remaining in the second half. West Chester scored 31 of its 80 points in the final nine minutes of the game, and when that run started, Millersville led 78-49. 

"We've never given off that much time during the by week, but especially for the starters, playing major minutes, they needed to get healthy and get fresh mentally," said Stitzel. "The winning streak was wearing on them a little. They came back ready on Monday, and the last two days, we had our best two practices of the year. I was ready to end practice Tuesday, and they wanted to go more. For an older group at this time of the year to say that, that impressed me. We were locked in tonight--a different team from last week."

Five Marauders scored in double figures, and very nearly had seven. Justin Nwosu recorded his fourth double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds. James Sullivan canned 4-of-6 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 19. Four starters picked up two fouls early in the first half, and Millersville's bench of Mekhi Hendricks, Ryan Davis, Jahme Ested and D'Marco Suggs responded with strong minutes early, helping Millersville expand its lead to 48-34 at the break. 

GAME HIGHLIGHTS
• Millersville's starting lineup returned to the floor intact to start the second half and connected on nine of its first 11 shots from the field. Before the first media timeout of the half, Millersville had pushed its lead to 20, thanks in part to six quick Nwosu points. Millersville continued to pour it on, scoring 18 points in the game's next six minutes, and Davis' breakaway slam dunk was the exclamation point on a 29-point Millersville lead. 

POST GAME REACTION FROM COACH CASEY STITZEL
• On the performance by the bench in the first half: "Mekhi and Ryan's minutes were huge. D'Marco did a great job on defense when they went big. Jahme gave solid minutes, too. We had four starters out with two fouls, and if the bench doesn't play like that, we don't have that lead, and obviously, West Chester would have more confidence going into the second half. The reserves got us the lead and the starters finished it off."
• On the team's effort on loose balls: "When we have that eye of the tiger, that look, doing the dirty work, getting charges, getting loose balls. We had 21 assists, passed the ball really well and did a great job getting their bigs in ball screens. They went zone, and we got the alley-oop (to Najdawi) and then got James for a three. We had our struggles against Shepherd's zone so it was great to see that adjustments against the 2-3."

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• Jaden Faulkner added 14 points and six assists. Najdawi, despite being slowed by foul trouble, scored 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting in 18 minutes. Williams totaled 12 points and a team-high two steals. 
• Millersville made 10 threes for just the second time in the last 12 games. 

NOTES
• Millersville's win, coupled with East Stroudsburg's win over Mansfield, keeps the two teams tied for first place in the PSAC East with 15-6 division records. Millersville owns the head-to-head tiebreaker after sweeping the season series with East Stroudsburg. Both teams have one division game remaining. 
• Sullivan jumped from 27th to 24th on Millersville's all-time scoring list (1,258 points) with his 19-point performance. 
• The official NCAA Atlantic Regional rankings were released prior to the game, and Millersville stayed at No. 7. The final ranking that determines the field for the NCAA Tournament follows the conference tournaments on March 6.  

NEXT
• Five of Millersville's previous seven games had come on the road. Now, the Marauders have an off weekend before closing the regular season with back-to-back home games against West Chester (Feb. 23) and Lock Haven (Feb. 26).