MILLERSVILLE, Pa. - Millersville's 19-point lead over West Chester dwindled to one before Drew Stover scored off a brilliant Jaden Faulkner pass in the waning seconds, and a defensive stop closed out an 83-78 win, clinching no worse than a share of the PSAC East title for the Marauders. 

Millersville (23-4, 18-3), now winners of nine in a row, have gone 2-0 in the first two games of a three-game gauntlet to close the regular season, picking up wins over 22-win East Stroudsburg and 17-win West Chester. Lock Haven, sitting one-game back in the standings, awaits the Marauders on Saturday in a winner-gets-the-No. 1-seed match-up. Millersville can win the PSAC East outright with a road win. 

West Chester (17-10, 14-7) made the final minutes of Wednesday's game tense for the Pucillo Gymnasium faithful, reenacting a scenario that played out in the first meeting of the season that Millersville won, 89-86. In that game, the Marauders led by 17 before West Chester slashed the deficit to one. On Wednesday, Millersville led 53-35 after a 12-4 run to start the second half and maintained a double-digit lead into the final 10 minutes. West Chester's Robert Smith pulled his team to within 76-75 with 2:21 to play and later cut Millersville's four-point lead to 79-78 with an acrobatic 3-pointer with 44 seconds to play. Millersville made just three field goals in the preceding nine minutes, scoring 11 of its points at the free throw line. 

"It was hard to replicate the atmosphere that we played in Saturday (versus East Stroudsburg)," said Millersville head coach Casey Stitzel. "We came off that emotional high, and West Chester is a very good team and very talented. Tonight was a big game. We were fighting for seeding, fighting for a bid to the NCAA Tournament. We started both halves well, but we had a lull in each half. If we want to reach our full potential, we can't make the lows so low. Defensively we had a couple of times where we lost guys, and the way fouls were being called, it was tough to get into a rhythm."

Nursing a one-point lead and first place in the division hanging in the balance, Millersville put the ball in the hands of the play-making Faulkner, who finished the game with 17 points and seven assists to just one turnover. Late in the shot clock, Faulkner ball faked from behind the arc and then attacked the basket before leaping and dropping a pass to Stover on the left block. Stover took one dribble and laid in a reverse lay-up with one second remaining on the shot clock and 13 seconds left in the game. 

"We took the clock down and ran our set with a ball screen," said Stitzel. "I thought Day (Waters) was open in the corner for three, but Jaden penetrated, and that's the kind of pass that only two or three players in the league can make. Drew had me nervous, but he made the lay-up. I've seen Jaden make that play for six years, and there aren't many who can make that pass."

West Chester called a timeout to set up a sideline out-of-bounds play with just over nine seconds to play. Millersville denied a pass to a cutting Smith, creating confusion for the Golden Rams. The in-bounds pass landed nowhere near a Golden Ram. Jahme Ested intercepted the pass, was fouled, and drilled both foul shots to ice the win. 

While the Marauders topped 81 points for the ninth game in a row, it was a challenging night in the paint against West Chester, particularly for leading scorer Matt Dade. After a career-high 37 points Saturday, he scored 17 but made just three field goals. However, he was clutch at the free throw line, hitting all 10 of his attempts. He also grabbed eight rebounds, sharing team-high honors with Ested. 

"They helped off on him and played more pack line," said Stitzel. "But he hit his free throws, rebounded, and the guy he was guarding (Jordan Kellier) is a good player, and Matt made him make some tough shots."

Dade and Faulkner were joined by Waters with 17 points. Waters, the PSAC leader in 3-point shooting, made 4 of 10 from deep. Stover scored 13 and added three steals and two blocks. Ested played an outstanding all-around game with 14 points, eight rebounds, six assists, two steals and a blocked shot. 

Millersville shot 44.2% from the floor, which was its lowest field goal percentage since its last loss back on Jan. 27. West Chester also held a 39-33 advantage on the glass. The Marauders helped themselves by sinking 29 of 35 free throws and totaling 17 assists to just 12 turnovers. 

"We are sitting here at 23-4, and I still don't think we've played our best basketball," said Stitzel. "I don't think we've played 40 minutes yet. Hopefully we will save that for our stretch run. Lock Haven is going to be jacked on Saturday. The place will be packed, they play really well at home. We'll have our hands full...Our guys are hungry to call themselves PSAC East champs and not have to deal with the ties and co-champs. We know the tiebreakers don't favor us. There's motivation to keep playing better and motivation to be the No. 1 seed. It's going to be the hardest game we've played all year."

GAME NOTES

• Millersville set a program record for PSAC wins in a season with 18. The previous high came in 2022, when the PSAC East-winning Marauders totaled 17. 
• The latest NCAA Division II regional rankings were released Wednesday before the game, and Millersville was placed No. 5. 
• Ested matched a season high in assists. 
• Millersville swept the season series against West Chester for the second time in three seasons, and it is only second time since 2007-08 that Millersville has accomplished that feat. 
• The win secured Millersville a first-round bye in the PSAC Tournament. Regardless of Saturday's outcome, Millersville will host a quarterfinal game on Wednesday, March 6 at 7 p.m.

UP NEXT

• Millersville travels to Lock Haven for the regular season finale on Saturday, March 2.