WILMINGTON, Pa. - Drew Stover and Saraj Ali recorded double-doubles, and Aiden Gair led the way with 19 points as the Millersville men's basketball ran its record to 3-0 with a 79-50 road win over Goldey-Beacom Wednesday afternoon. 

It wasn't particularly pretty--the Marauders shot a season-low 40% from the field--but defense and rebounding made the difference. Millersville held a staggering 51-29 advantage on the glass, forced 13 Lightning turnovers, and held the home team to 31% shooting. With their half-court offense out of sync early, the Marauders turned the turnovers and defensive rebounds into quick outlet passes and transition buckets. 

"When you play on the road, you have to be able to do the little stuff," said Millersville head coach Casey Stitzel. "You have to be able to rebound and defend. The rebounding and Aiden getting hot bailed us out in the first half. In the second half, we had a great defensive half, and those stops helped us get out in transition." 
 
Millersville closed the first half on a 10-0 run, turning a four-point lead into a 43-29 halftime advantage in just four possessions. Gair splashed back-to-back threes, including an off-the-dribble leaner from the right wing, and Aamir Hurst capped the run with a fastbreak dunk that resulted from an Alec Topper steal and full-court pass from Dante Weise. 

Goldey-Beacom lingered 10 points behind until Ali sparked an 11-0 Millersville run. From 14:17 to the 10-minute mark, Millersville made 4 of 6 shots with Hurst and Ali combining for nine. Millersville held Goldey-Beacom to three misses and three turnovers on a string of six possessions. That pushed the Marauders' lead to 21, and they continued to pull away limiting Goldey-Beacom to 10 points over the game's final 14 minutes. Goldey-Beacom connected on just 6 of 26 second-half shots. 

"Our defense started to pick up at the end of the first half, and Aiden made some shots that make him one of the better shooters we've had." 
 
Millersville has won all three of its games by at least 19 points. The 2021-22 team that went 25-7 performed that feat in three home games, and that was also the last season that Millersville won its first road game. More impressive is that it was Millersville's largest margin of victory in the first road game since at least 1974. After back-to-back games over the weekend, Millersville rested on Monday and had just one day of practice before the trip to Wilmington.

"It definitely had the makings of a nightmare game," said Stitzel. "We started a little slow. We could have had better attention to detail to the scouting report, but with one day prep for an hour, with a new group, to hold a team to 50, to get them on the glass, and to win a game while not shooting well, I'd say it was a very good performance."

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Millersville never trailed and led for 39:19 of the 40-minute game. 
• Millersville made 12 of 13 free throws in the first half and shot 25 of 33 in the game. 
• Stover totaled 17 points and came within one rebound (13) and one block (4) of career highs. He also led the team with five assists. 
• Ali finished with 10 points, 11 rebounds, and a team-high three steals. 
• Montell Cooper scored 14 points, 12 of which came in the first half. 
• For the second consecutive game, no Marauder played more than 29 minutes. 

GAME NOTES

• Gair's 19 points were a career-high at the Division II level. 
• It is only the second time since 2009 that Millersville has started as season 3-0. 
• Millersville improved to 4-7 all-time against Goldey-Beacom, and it was the program's first win at Goldey-Beacom in five tries. Millersville has won the last two meetings after dropping four in a row from 2015-2017. 

UP NEXT

• Millersville travels to Jefferson for another stiff road test on Saturday, Nov. 16. Jefferson entered Wednesday's game at Kutztown 2-0.