ABOUT THE GAME

• Wednesday’s PSAC East rivalry game features two teams playing their best basketball of the season. Millersville has won three in a row while West Chester has won four in a row and seven of its last eight. Both teams have recently knocked off the PSAC East’s first-place team and both have won at the buzzer in the last week. Millersville’s last three wins have been by a combined total of eight points, but the Marauders beat first-place Shippensburg on Monday. West Chester went on the road and knocked East Stroudsburg out of first place on Jan. 21 and followed that by escaping Shepherd at home with a buzzer-beating jumper by Joshua Walker. 

SCOUTING THE MARAUDERS

• Millersville has inserted a pair of freshmen into the starting lineup, and both Keith Mency and Day Waters have delivered. Millersville is 6-2 with Mency starting and 2-0 with Waters in the lineup. Mency has made a three in five-straight games, shooting 7-of-11 from deep in that stretch. After playing a high of 10 minutes in the first nine games, Waters has played at least 13 in each of the last five and the Maruaders are 3-0 when he plays at least 18 minutes. Waters is 5-of-9 from three in ‘Ville’s last three wins. 
• Wednesday is Matt Dade’s first shot at his former team, which whom is spent three years and two seasons. Dade is finding his rhythm as a Marauder, scoring 12 or more in five-straight games. In six games against PSAC East foes, Dade has averaged a team-high 14.0 points per game. 
• Guard Dylin Borden was named PSAC East Defensive Athlete of the Week for the first time in his career on Monday. He’s played in just nine games this season, but he’s now playing his way into the rotation, earning 25 and 20 minutes in the last two games. He’s hit a three in three-straight games and has 10 steals in his last four games spanning 60 total minutes.  
   

SCOUTING WEST CHESTER

• West Chester averages 76.6 points per game but isn’t particularly efficient, ranking 11th in the PSAC in field goal percentage. West Chester plays with pace, attempting more than 100 shots than Millersville, and it gets to the free throw line, ranking third in the PSAC in attempts with 367 attempts. West Chester also gets plenty of second-chance opportunities. It is the top rebounding club in the PSAC (40.9) and averages nearly 14 offensive rebounds per game. All five of West Chester’s losses have come when it has shot under 42%. Eli Barrett leads West Chester with six double-doubles. 

SERIES HISTORY

• Over the course of 119 years and 206 meetings, only four games separate West Chester (105 wins) and Millersville (101 wins). Home court is significant in the series. Since 1983, Millersville is 24-12 at home vs. West Chester and 11-27 on the road. West Chester produced its longest winning streak in the series between 2014-2019, but the Marauders have since won four of five and three in a row. Millersville took both regular season games as well as a home playoff game in 2022. The Marauders won each of the last three meetings at Pucillo Gymnasium by at least 12 points with an average margin of victory of 18.0 points per game. 
• The Last Meeting Millersville 70, West Chester 54 (3/2/2022): Millersville fell behind 14-1 but received a spark from Mekhi Hendricks and outscored the Golden Rams by 29 the rest of the way. Hendricks sparked the Marauders with 15 points, three steals, and a blocked shot, posting a plus-minus of 25 in just 26 minutes of action. Justin Nwosu played a key role in the paint as well, recording his seventh double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds while helping Millersville out-rebound the PSAC's top rebounding team, 46-42.