MILLERSVILLE, Pa. - Millersville senior
Drew Stover has spent his semester student teaching, and he certainly educated the Mansfield Mountaineers with a lesson in low-post offense Saturday. Stover scored a career-high 30 points on 14 of 16 shooting as Millersville set a season-high for points in a 105-72 win.
Millersville (15-9, 11-6) fed Stover on the block early and often, and Mansfield had no answer. He scored Millersville's first six points, finished the first half with 17, and then scored the Marauders' first six points of the second half. It was Stover's 11th game with at least 20 points this season, but it was his first since Jan. 18.
"I always say this about Drew; the only person in the PSAC who can guard Drew is Drew," said Millersville head coach
Casey Stitzel. "We are two weeks away from the regular season being over, and as a coach, you try to save players from having regret. We have some things not go our way, and he's struggled a little, and I told him, 'You have to have more joy.' He's working a full-time job and playing college basketball. In July, we don't want him to look back and wonder what could have been. We go as he goes. If he continues to step up, we'll be in the mix."
Stover has punished Mansfield throughout his career. He scored 23 in the teams' first meeting of the season and has averaged 22.1 points on 83.1% shooting in six games against the Mountaineers.
The 105 points scored were the most for a Millersville team against a Division II opponent since totaling 113 against Wilmington on Nov. 17, 2006. The Marauders shot 58% from the field and made a season-high 10 3-pointers. The offensive production was all the more impressive considering that Millersville played without two starters.
"We've had guys out at different times all year," said Stitzel. "We just talked about stepping up. This is where your culture matters. Our buy-in and culture were awesome today. Everyone who went on the court affected winning. We stress every day that you have to be a team and have to have good culture."
Alec Topper provided 16 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two blocks after not scoring in Wednesday's game against Kutztown.
Aamir Hurst scored 12, giving him back-to-back games in double-figures since stepping in for the injured
Montell Cooper.
Murray Grant, who played a season-high of nine minutes way back on Nov. 10 and hadn't scored all season, logged 13 minutes and scored eight points on 3 of 4 shooting.
"Murray hasn't played all year, but the difference is, if he is feeling sorry for himself and disgruntled because of lack of playing time, he's not going to play well when he gets the opportunity," said Stitzel. "Credit to him. He's never gotten like that. He works hard every day, and gets extra shots up. He's been asking what he could do to get into the rotation. I told him, 'Now is your chance.' Everyone wants to play more. If you want that opportunity, you have to take advantage of it. He played hard and shots went in. That's a credit to his mindset and how he approaches every day. It was cool to see that."
Millersville, now 14-0 when leading at the half, built a 52-34 advantage after the first 20 minutes, but Mansfield didn't go quietly. The Mountaineers switched to a zone defense to slow Millersville and trailed by 16 with 15 minutes to play. Topper gave the Marauders a spark, scoring 10 points, including two dunks, in a six-minute stretch that pushed Millersville's advantage back above 20 points. The Marauders pulled away, out-scoring Mansfield 27-12 in the game's final nine minutes.
"Topper has been playing with a bad ankle, but Top never complains, never asks to come out," said Stitzel. "He had a slow start, but he got that reward in the second half when he's fought through injuries and played for his teammates. His defense gets him going on offense. They went zone and it put us to sleep a little bit. His getting us into transition during that stretch really helped us."
Aiden Gair continued to provide offense for the Marauders with his scoring and passing. He scored 19 points and set a career-high with seven assists. He's averaged 16.9 points per game over his last nine.
Millersville has won the last 14, 20 of 21 and 12 in a row at home against Mansfield.
UP NEXT
Millersville's four-game homestand continues Wednesday, Feb. 19 against Bloomsburg.
