INDIANA, Pa. - The PSAC East champs met the PSAC West champs in Sunday's PSAC Championship game, and No. 3 Indiana (Pa.), playing on its home floor, captured its third-straight conference title and its 14th consecutive win overall, holding off Millersville, 63-52. 

The match-up featured the top two defensive and rebounding clubs in the conference, and that was where the game was decided. IUP swarmed the Marauders for 40 minutes, holding them to 30% shooting and forcing 16 turnovers. After Millersville scored the game's first basket, IUP's suffocating half-court defense held the Marauders without a field goal for the next nine minutes. 

Millersville was stingy at the defensive end as well, holding IUP to 36.9% shooting and its third-fewest points of the season, but the Marauders just couldn't muster enough on offense. Jaden Faulkner finished with 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists, and James Sullivan scored 16, sinking 3-of-5 threes. No other Marauders scored more than seven. 

"It wasn't our best night, but IUP did a great job," said Millersville head coach Casey Stitzel. "They are a great team--really well coached. They stifled us defensively. I thought our defense was good enough to win but offense is what got us today. We didn't share the ball enough, make the extra pass or the right reads."

Millersville out-scored IUP 34-28 in the final 20 minutes but was ultimately doomed by its inability to make shots in the first half. The Marauders made just 6-of-28 shots and committed nine turnovers. After falling behind 22-5, Faulkner sparked the Marauders with a pair of 3-pointers, and chipped the deficit down to 29-18 with 1:44 to play in the half. But Millersville came up empty on each of its final three possessions, and IUP scored on all three. Millersville did not come within 11 points of the Crimson Hawks again until Kaleb Torrence's free throws in the final seconds. 

"I give credit to IUP," said Stitzel. "There is a reason why as good as we are defensively, we are behind them in the stat rankings. They do a great job with their switches and their system. We are used to making a drive, one pass and a shot, and you just can't do that against these guys. With just an hour shoot-around today, it is hard to show a team how to beat that kind of defense. Their game plan was spot-on and made things really tough for James. And we missed shots. If we hit some of those shots early, maybe it gets us going, but we also had a couple too many turnovers. We defended well enough that had we shot it better we'd have been in the game."

IUP improved to 29-2 with the victory, and its only loss since December was on the road by two points. IUP is now 55-3 at home over the last four seasons. 

Millersville played for its first PSAC Championship since 2007, and its 25 wins are the fifth-most in program history. While IUP, already ranked No. 2 in the latest NCAA Atlantic Region rankings, receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with Sunday's win, Millersville must wait for the NCAA Selection Show at 10:30 p.m., to see if it receives an at-large bid to the tournament. Millersville's resume includes impressive wins over regionally-ranked West Virginia State, Virginia Union and Mercyhurst as well as a win over a 20-win Shippensburg team and a sweep of 19-win East Stroudsburg. Of Millersville's six losses, two came against IUP, and three others came against teams with at least 20 wins. 

"I know we are one of the best eight teams in the Atlantic Region," said Stitzel. "The Mercyhurst win should have cemented it. We showed that Millersville can compete with the best teams. We have the good non-conference wins. We've won 25 games, and the way we play defense, we'd be a tough out. I think we've earned the right to play again."

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• IUP's Ethan Porterfield scored 16 points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked two shots and was named the PSAC Tournament MVP. Dave Morris led IUP with 19 points, hitting 5-of-9 3-pointers. Tomiwa Sulaiman anchored the IUP defense inside, grabbing 11 rebounds and seven steals.
• Justin Nwosu led Millersville on the glass with eight rebounds. 

NEXT
• Millersville's NCAA Tournament fate will be announced Sunday at 10:30 p.m. The show is broadcast on ncaa.com.