MILLERSVILLE, Pa. - Providing a spark off the bench, Jacob Aryee ignited a 17-2 Millersville run that turned a close game into an 81-58 rout over Shippensburg Wednesday night in Pucillo Gymnasium. 

Millersville (17-4, 12-3 PSAC), now winners of three in a row and 10 of 11, out-scored the Raiders 50-31 in the final 20 minutes after dropping 58 in the second half of the Jan. 10 win at Shippensburg. Millersville has now won five in a row over Shippensburg--its longest winning streak in the series since 1998-2000. 

Aryee made 4 of 5 shots and 3 of 3 from three for a season-high 12 points, and his defense made a significant impact as he recorded a career-high five steals. It is the second time in the last three games that Aryee has set a career-high in steals. Aryee's steal and authoritative transition slam set off a run in which Millersville made six consecutive shots and turned a slight, 45-40 lead into an 18-point advantage. The 17-2 run included Shippensburg turnovers, two of which were steals by Aryee. Millersville finished the game with 30 points on Ship's 19 turnovers. 

"Jacob's dunk woke us up," said Millersville head coach Casey Stitzel. "He did that by being aggressive and being in the passing lane, using his athleticism. Jacob was great...We wanted to give a small lineup a try, and Jacob can switch from one to four. We were trying to eliminate the pick and pops. He did a great job being aggressive. He has matured so much. He knows that if he plays hard, he gets rewarded with more minutes. We also had good contributions on defense from Dylin Borden and J.D. Gross. When we get contributions off the bench like that, it makes us tough to beat."

Drew Stover and Millersville's post-up game was far more effective in the second half as well. Stover was limited to eight minutes in the first half after picking up two quick fouls, but he made 7 of his 8 shots in the game and scored 10 of his 14 in the second half. Fellow forward Matt Dade led all scorers with 17 points, and he scored five of his nine second-half points at the free throw line. 

"We got the ball inside," said Stitzel. "We ran offense better. It's not rocket science. When you run the offense better, the ball moves, and the bigs are the ones who benefit from that."

The Marauders piling up 46 points in the paint also freed up the Marauders' guards for open threes. After making 1 of 5 in the first half, Millersville sank 5 of 8 in the second--two of which belonged to Aryee. 

"The biggest thing in the first half--and you see this after a bye sometimes--is that you don't have the fluidity that we did when we were playing all those games in a row," said Stitzel. "You could tell we hadn't played a game in a week. That first game, that first half out of the bye, and throw in some guys missing practices because of a bug going through the team, is always tough to get started. Tonight is the first time that our defense kept us in a game when our offense wasn't able to score a bunch of points. That's Millersville basketball. It was good to see a team shoot in the 30s (percent). We've been in a lot of shoot-outs lately."

Millersville shot 64.3% from the field in the second half and held Shippensburg below 40% in both sessions. The Raiders shot 38.1% from the field while Millersville finished at 51.8%. 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Five Marauders scored in double-figures for the third consecutive game. In addition to Dade, Stover and Aryee, Jaden Faulkner scored 14 points, and Day Waters scored 10. Waters led the Marauders with nine rebounds. Jahme Ested, Faulkner, J.D. Gross and Dylin Borden all finished with three assists. 

GAME NOTES

• Faulkner's first field goal of the game put him next to Charlie Parker '08, Mike Monroe '91 and Andrew Marshall '87 as the only players in program history with 1,300 points, 400 assists and 130 steals. 
• Millersville improved to 13-0 when holding the halftime lead. 
• The 23-point margin of victory was Millersville largest against Shippensburg since an 81-58 win in 1998. It was also Millersville's 10th win by double-figures this season. 

UP NEXT

• Millersville goes on the road for three of its next four games including back-to-back road trips to Bloomsburg (Feb. 10) and Shepherd (Feb. 17).