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PREVIEW: Marauders, Golden Eagles open PSAC play with rare meeting in Pucillo

12/5/2025 8:00:00 AM

By: Ethan Hulsey, Director of Athletic Communications

COVERAGE LINKS

  • Series vs. CU: 13-11
  • Series Streak: CU, 1
  • First Meeting: L, 49-50 (1951)
  • Last Meeting: L, 71-80 (2024)
  • Last 10 Meetings: 5-5
  • Most ‘Ville Points: 111 (1992)
  • Record at Pucillo Gym: 7-2
  • Casey Stitzel vs. CU: 4-1
  • Damien Pitts vs. ’Ville: 1-2

ABOUT THE GAME

  • PSAC play begins as Millersville welcomes a familiar face back to Pucillo Gymnasium. Clarion’s head coach Damian Pitts spent 17 years as an assistant coach at Millersville, and now he leads a 4-3 Clarion squad against the 4-2 Marauders, who have won three games in a row. Millersville is coming off its first road win of the season, beating previously undefeated and 20th-ranked Dominican, 106-96. The Marauders earned their first win over a nationally ranked opponent since March 6, 2024, and shot 64.3%, their best since 66% against No. 10 Gannon on Dec. 30, 2023. 

GAME STORYLINES

  • The game is shaping up to be a shootout with Clarion averaging 89.1 points per game and shooting 49.3% from the field and Millersville averaging 92.5 points per game on 51% shooting. The Marauders have scored at least 88 points in four consecutive games, and the 106 scored against Dominican were the most by a Millersville team in a regulation game against a Division II opponent since totaling 115 against the University of the District of Columbia on Feb. 8, 1993. Clarion has topped the century mark twice and scored 91 or more in five of seven games. Scoring, however, is way up in the PSAC this season as 10 teams are averaging at least 85 points per game. Last season, only two teams averaged better than 85 at season’s end. 
  • Clarion’s Gavin Cote ranks eighth in the PSAC in scoring (17.3) and Kendon Peebles ranks 17th (15.4). Peebles scored 30 against Wheeling on Nov. 15. Millersville’s Day Waters is coming off a career-high 31-point performance. He is now one of three current Marauders with a 30-point game on their resumes. Waters’ is the PSAC’s No. 2 scorer at 22.0 points per game, and while Saraj Ali has missed two games, his 20.8 points per game would rank third. Ali has scored 20-plus points in his last three games and has connected on 70% of his shots. 
  • Waters is closing in on becoming the 45th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point milestone. Waters enters Saturday’s game with 995. He will become the ninth Marauder coached by Stitzel to hit the mark. E.J. Matthews-Spratley came to Millersville having already scored 1,000 points, and Saraj Ali achieved the feat last season.
  • Millersville is receiving contributions from its newcomers. Cesar Tchilombo was named the PSAC East Athlete of the Week on Monday after his double-double against Wilson. Amir Cunningham totaled a season-high 14 points and six rebounds against Dominican. Matthews-Spratley has scored double-figures in five of six games, and freshman Carnell Henderson ranks 18th in the PSAC in steals. 
  • Aamir Hurst was named the PSAC East Defensive Athlete of the Week once last season, and he ranks among the top defenders in the PSAC again this year. He is fourth in steals (2.2) and seventh in blocked shots (1.0). He has recorded at least one steal in each game and has blocked at least one shot in four of six. Hurst has also scored in double figures in four consecutive games and ranks seventh in the PSAC in free throw shooting (.848). 

SERIES HISTORY

  • Despite both schools being founding members of the 75-year-old PSAC, Millersville and Clarion have played just 24 times, and Saturday marks just the 10th time that Clarion has traveled to Pucillo Gymnasium. Millersville is 7-2 at home against Clarion and has won the last two home meetings by 31 and 33 points. It is the first meeting at Pucillo Gymnasium since Dec. 3, 2021. Clarion’s last win at Pucillo was on Nov. 22, 2015 (79-68). Clarion also won at Millersville on Jan. 4, 2015, by an 80-78 final as Clarion survived a 17-1 Millersville run in the final three minutes. Casey Stitzel is 4-1 against Clarion, while Pitts picked up his first win over Millersville on Dec. 17, 2024, at home by an 80-71 final.
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