MILLERSVILLE, Pa. - Millersville men's basketball coach Casey Stitzel figured it would take some time for his roster of 12 newcomers to find its rhythm. The Marauders needed precisely 15 minutes and 21 seconds. Aamir Hurst's three-point play ignited an 18-0 run that fueled an 89-70 win over Claflin in Saturday's season opener. 

Ten players played their first game in a Millersville uniform, and four scored in double figures. Senior Drew Stover, one of the few familiar faces, scored 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds, but it was the energy of newcomers Hurst, Montell Cooper, Dante Weise, and Alec Topper that helped the Marauders overcome an uncertain start. 

"Those players hadn't done it here yet, but they've been in big games before," said Stitzel of the newcomers' impact. "They know what it takes to win. We are at a point in the season where we are trying to figure out what works and what doesn't, trying to get to know each other. We will be tough to beat if we can maintain the defense we played in that spurt for 40 minutes."

Cooper, a grad transfer from Division III Marymount, pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds and added 16 points for his first double-double. Hurst scored 10 in 16 minutes. Aiden Gair hit 4-of-7 3-pointers for 14 points, and Saraj Ali scored 11. 

Claflin, a program that won 19 games two seasons ago and 17 in 2023-24, didn't make the debuts easy. Millersville committed turnovers on four of the first five possessions and scored just 20 points in the opening 15 minutes of the game. With the Marauders trailing 25-20, the bench unit of Hurst, Weise, and Topper paired with Cooper and Gair dialed up Millersville's aggression on both ends of the court. Hurst drove to the bucket for an and-one. The Marauders got a stop, and Weise crashed the glass for a tip-in off a Topper miss. Topper then created a turnover, and Weise found him for a transition 3-pointer on the left wing. Soon after, Topper followed a miss with a thunderous, two-handed dunk, and the Marauders started to pull away.

In four minutes to close the first half, Millersville made 7-of-11 shots while Claflin missed five in a row and committed three turnovers. Cooper and Topper combined for 11 of Millersville's 18 in that run. 

"The first half run with Alec, Amir and Dante, they gave us unbelievable minutes," said Stitzel. "That kind of play off the bench is something we did not have last year"

Millersville extended its lead to 21 on Hurst's 3-pointer with 13:55 to play in the game, but the Marauders decelerated, and at the 6:58 mark, Claflin pulled to within 71-65 on a 3-pointer from Cristian Sanon. Stover answered with a bucket and a steal. The Marauders forced a second consecutive turnover, and Cooper scored an acrobatic lay-up on a drive to push the lead back to double-digits. Millersville closed on a 14-0 run, sinking each of its final five shots. 

"I didn't know how the team would respond to adversity," said Stitzel. "We've had scrimmages, but we won those pretty handily. We haven't had the adversity of going up 20 and someone punching back. It was great to see the way we responded to that. I have to do a better job staying on them when we are up 20 and keep grinding out possessions defensively." 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Millersville shot 56.5% from the field including 66.7% in the second half. The Marauders also won the rebounding battle 39-31 and scored 19 second-chance points on seven offensive boards. 
• Millersville was outstanding in transition with 23 fast-break points. 
• Eight Marauders played at least 13 minutes with the bench scoring 21 points. 

GAME NOTES

• Millersville has won three consecutive season openers at home, scoring at least 86 points in all three games. 
• Saturday's match-up was only the second between Millersville and Claflin and the first since Claflin won on a buzzer-beater in the 2015-16 season opener. 
• The weekend's tip-off tournament, the Ron Wilson '79 Classic, is named in honor of the former Marauder basketball player in appreciation of his outstanding support for the program.  

UP NEXT

• Millersville plays Point Park Sunday at 3 p.m. It is the first meeting between the programs. Point Park is in its inaugural season at Division II after going 30-3 in the NAIA last season. Point Park defeated Mansfield 90-73 in Saturday's late game.