MILLERSVILLE, Pa. - Millersville men's basketball trailed Virginia Union by double-digits with fewer than eight minutes remaining in the first half, but with Matt Dade's 19 points leading five players in double figures, Millersville rallied and pulled away with an 80-71 victory. 

Jaden Faulkner totaled 18 points and six assists, doing extensive damage playing out of the high post. Day Waters topped his career high for the second day in a row with 15 points, hitting 3-of-6 from three. Drew Stover added 14, and Jahme Ested provided 11 points and six rebounds while playing also steadily running the point guard role and drawing a tough defensive assignment against Panthers' top scorer Tahj Harding. 

"That's a tough early season game, a regional game, where you can come back, get the win, and get so many lessons to learn from and gain valuable experience," said Millersville head coach Casey Stitzel. 

The win improved the Marauders to 2-0, but they were forced to grind for 40 minutes. Millersville trailed by as many as 12 in the first half, but after a Waters 3-pointer at the 8:27 mark, the Marauders outscored Virginia Union 22-9 to take a 36-35 halftime lead, and the second half was an exercise in patience as they attacked the interior of the Panthers' 2-3 zone, drawing 18 second-half fouls and and getting to the line 25 times over the final 20 minutes. 

"It's hard, because as a coach, I'm not a zone guy," said Stitzel. "You try to work on zone offense in practice, but you can't simulate what they do. In the beginning was shaky, but we started to execute. We got the ball into the middle, the bigs were active."

One key adjustment was moving Faulkner off the wing into the high post, where he could attack to score or dish to Dade or Stover on the block. Dade benefited, converting 8-of-10 shots from the field and making 3-of-4 free throws.

"At halftime we had to go back to our bread and butter, and that's putting Jaden in the middle," said Stitzel. "He did a great job attacking. Every single game he's starting to get back."

Waters provided the outside shooting to keep the defensive spaced, and Ested also knocked down some long-range twos, making 4-of-6 shots in the game. When they weren't going to foul line, the Marauders converted possessions efficiently, shooting 59.1% from the field in the second half. They also committed just 11 turnovers over 40 minutes. 

With six minutes to play, Millersville held on to a six-point lead but forced four-straight Virginia Union missed, and a technical foul on Jonathan Salazar gave Millersville extra points at the line as part of a 7-0 run that padded the lead to 13. Millersville weathered Virginia Union's press and got enough stops over the final four minutes to close the win. 

"We need to make some more foul shots, but we got stops and defensive rebounds," said Stitzel. "We pushed in transition, made some nice plays finishing with and-ones. That was good to see because we missed some layups yesterday. Those are huge for momentum. We did a great job against the press attacking it when we could or pulling it out and running clock."

UP NEXT

• Millersville travels to Bowie State on Nov. 15 for a 7 p.m. tip. 

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