WEST CHESTER, Pa. - One week ago, Millersville walked out of Hollinger Fieldhouse with a five-point loss and a singular goal--get back there and beat West Chester in the PSAC Tournament. Goal accomplished. Millersville rallied from nine points down and sparked by a career-high 28 points from Jahme Ested and the 3-point shooting of Aiden Gair, the Marauders stormed to the finish, advancing to the PSAC Semifinals with an 85-71 win. 

Millersville ended West Chester's 16-game home winning streak, handing the Golden Rams their first home loss of the season. It was a night for bucking trends as Millersville was 0-10 when trailing at the half before Wednesday's 35-32 deficit turned into a 14-point win by scoring 53 second half points and finishing with the most points of any road team playing at West Chester this season. 

"We wanted to go back to (East Stroudsburg) or West Chester and erase those games we gave away this season," said Millersville head coach Casey Stitzel. "If we were going to do anything this season, we had to win a road game against a good team."

Millersville is back in the PSAC's final four for the third time in four seasons and is the only Eastern Division team that can stake that claim. While it was Millersville's first postseason win at West Chester since 2005, Millersville has won four of the last five, eight of the last 10, and two consecutive tournament games against their rivals. West Chester led the PSAC in rebounding during the regular season, but Millersville won the rebounding battle in all three meetings, and Millersville's two wins came by a combined total of 50 points. 

"I'll be honest," said Stitzel. "West Chester's coach was interviewed halftime of the last game, and he said they were way better than us. We played that clip to our guys, and that provided a little extra motivation. When we play with toughness and stay strong mentally, we are tough to beat."

Ested was brilliant, hitting 8 of 12 shots from the field, 3 of 4 from three and 9 of 10 from the line while handing out four assists. Ested scored 19 in the second half, and willed the Marauders back into the game after they fell behind by nine with just over 15 minutes to play. He hit two threes and scored eight consecutive points in a two-minute stretch, and Dante Weise, who played a significant role off the bench, drilled a 3-pointer from just in front of the Millersville bench to even the score at 53-53. 
 
If Ested brought the Marauders back, Gair carried them home. He scored all 18 of his points in the final 20 minutes. Gair struggled with his shot early, missing his first five shot attempts. But after West Chester pulled in front 42-34 with 18 minutes to play, Gair scored on a drive to the basket, and that was all he needed. His first 3-pointer gave Millersville a 57-56 advantage, and he splashed another on the next possession to retake the lead, 60-58.  He scored 16 points in the final 10 minutes, and his three with 47 seconds to go was the dagger. 
 
Saraj Ali also overcame a shaky start to help the Marauders down the stretch. He scored three points in the first half but finished with 14, making eight free throws while also pulling down eight hard-fought defensive rebounds. Among those second-half points was the 1,000th of his career. 

"It was one of those things where we started making foul shots and getting to the basket but we needed to hit open shots," said Stitzel. "Jahme hit two big ones, Aiden got hot. Dante did a really good job off the bench, and Saraj got going. When we rebound, defend and share the ball we can get in transition, and that's when we are good."
 
Dylan Blair's 3-pointer with 6:09 left gave West Chester its final lead of the game. Weise found Ali for a lay-up on Millersville's next possession, and from there, the Marauders outscored West Chester 22-7, sinking 5 of 7 shots, 9 of 10 free throws and all three 3-pointers. 

"It took 40 minutes of dealing with adversity, 40 minutes of the bench stepping up, and we didn't have that five-minute stretch where we had a bunch of turnovers in a row," said Stitzel. "I knew if we could keep it in single digits, the pressure would swing to them."

West Chester shot 0 of 4 from three and 3 of 7 from the line in the final six minutes. 

With most of the Marauders struggling on the offensive end early, leading scorer Drew Stover kept them within striking distance. He scored 10 of his 12 in the first 20 minutes and had nearly a third of the Marauders first-half points. Weise had not played 20 minutes in more than two weeks, but he logged 26 Wednesday night, grabbed six rebounds and handed out six assists. Stitzel stayed with the back-up guard in crunch time. 

"Dante was unreal tonight," said Stitzel. "When he shows up like that, we are tough to beat. I liked his energy, the way he ran the court, got on the glass, got on the floor, and he was great guarding the ball. He's been struggling in a new role, but this is what we recruited."

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Millersville held a 40-36 edge on the glass, and West Chester finished with four offensive rebounds--four fewer than its season average. 
• Millersville limited West Chester to 35.9% shooting. West Chester shot under 38% eight times in 29 games, and three of those games were against Millersville. 
• Gair played all 40 minutes, and Ested played 39. 

UP NEXT

• It was a night of upsets in the PSAC Tournament as No. 3 seed Shepherd won at East Stroudsburg. That moves the final three games of the tournament to Shepherd where Millersville plays PSAC West champ Gannon on Saturday at 1 p.m. Shepherd plays Cal U on the other side of the bracket. Millersville and Gannon is a rematch of last season's semifinal. Gannon, with home court advantage, won 98-64 on its way to the PSAC Championship.