PSAC Championship Central
MILLERSVILLE, Pa.- Following a comeback victory over Shepherd on Monday night, defeating the Rams by an 88-79 final in a game that featured eight ties and eight lead changes, West Chester (17-11) will now shift its attention to top-seed and PSAC East Regular Season Champion Millersville (23-5) in the PSAC Quarterfinals on the road on Wednesday evening with opening tip set for 7 p.m.
FAN INFORMATION
All tickets will be sold on-site at Pucillo Gymnasium, with adult tickets being $10, while student tickets will be $5 with free admission being granted to students from PSAC Member Institutions with current, valid school ID.
SERIES INFORMATION
With over 200 known meetings between West Chester and Millersville and the first meeting being traced back to as far as the 1903 season, the Golden Rams and Marauders have no shortage of history with one another. West Chester enters play holding a 105-100 lead in the all-time series, having won seven of the last 10 games in the series. Recent times have shown the momentum starting to shift back to the Marauders, as Millersville took both regular season meetings this season and has won three of the last four vs the Golden Rams. West Chester may be primed to snap this streak as the Golden Rams have not dropped three in a row to Millersville in the last 15 years.
In the most recent meeting between the two rivals at Millersville last Wednesday night, West Chester found itself behind early, eventually trailing by as many as 29 points midway through the second half before closing the game on an 11-0 run in the 92-80 setback.
Elijah Allen (Dover, Del./Dover) who set a career-high in scoring on Saturday afternoon at Lock Haven to improve its chance at the fourth seed, did his best to repeat the performance on Wednesday night, finishing with a game-high 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting while also coming away with six rebounds in the setback. Unfortunately for West Chester, Millersville was remarkably balanced on Wednesday night as its entire starting five finished in double figures led by 19 points from James Sullivan to bounce back from a loss on the road at Shepherd on the Wednesday prior. As a team, West Chester shot 42.0 % from the field and 20.8 % from deep while the Marauders shot 52.4 % from the field and 47.6 % from three-point territory in the setback.
FLOCK TALK
West Chester returned home on Monday evening to host Shepherd in the first round of the PSAC Tournament. West Chester trailed throughout the first half but never by more than six points as the game was close throughout, featuring eight ties and eight lead changes over the 40 minutes. West Chester retook the lead heading into halftime break, leading 42-41 and eventually extended its lead to as many as 11 points late in the first half en route to an 88-79 victory over the Rams to advance back to the PSAC Quarterfinals. This 88-point effort was the most points an opponent has scored against Shepherd this season, surpassing the previous high of 81 set by Bowie State during the opening weekend of the season back in November.
Elijah Allen led West Chester in scoring with a career-high 27 points as one of four players in double figures while fellow newcomer
Robert Smith added 17 of his own to help lead West Chester in the victory. As a team, West Chester shot 50.0 % from the field and 43.3 % from beyond the arc while also shooting 68.2 % from the line in the first-round victory.
Since making his Golden Ram debut on January 15th vs Mansfield, Allen has been an influential member of the Golden Rams, scoring in double figures in 10 of 18 games. In recent games, Allen has been even more impactful, scoring 22 points or more in each of the last four games, including a career-high 27 points vs Shepherd in the PSAC Tournament on Monday night. Over his last four games, Allen has shot 57.4 % from the field and 50.0 % from deep, averaging 24.3 points and 5.8 rebounds per game over that span.
As a team, West Chester has caught fire from three-point range lately, hitting 13 in the victory over Shepherd on Monday night and making at least 12 in four of the last five games. The only opponent who held West Chester under this was Millersville last Wednesday night, as the Golden Rams were just 5-for-24 in this game.
MARAUDER MENTIONS
Millersville, who earned a bye into a home quarterfinal on Wednesday night after clinching the PSAC Eastern Division crown on Saturday night with a 85-50 victory over Lock Haven. In this contest, Millersville trailed only briefly, finding itself behind for just two seconds before erasing the deficit and cruising to a 35-point victory. Khari Williams led the way in scoring with 18 points including a 4-for-7 effort from deep along with five rebounds while Caden Najdawi finished with 13 points, eight rebounds, and five assists in a runaway victory over Lock Haven to conclude the regular season. Millersville shot an impressive 52.3 % from the field and 33.3 % from deep along with 81.8 % from the line in the victory.
Millersville is making its 27th PSAC Tournament appearance and 4th under the tutelage of head coach Casey Stitzel. Under Stitzel, the Marauders are 1-2 in PSAC Tournament games with their lone victory coming in the first round in the 2020 Tournament. Wednesday night will be Millersville's first home Quarterfinal since the 2007 season, which was also the last time the Marauders captured the PSAC East Regular Season crown. Home games have presented a true advantage for Millersville this season as the Marauders are 14-2 in home games with seven-straight home victories.
After defeating the PSACs fourth-best defensive unit in Shepherd and scoring the most points against them of any opponent on Monday night, West Chester will face the fifth-best defensive unit in the PSAC on Wednesday evening at Millersville for the right to advance to the PSAC Semifinals. Defense has been a calling card for Millersville throughout the years as the Marauders hold opponents to just 29.6 % three-point shooting, which is second-best in the PSAC while the 41.0 % opponents' field-goal percentage is third best in the PSAC entering Wednesday night. Offensively, Millersville ranks eighth in the PSAC in scoring, averaging 78.6 points per game, while ranking second in the league in field-goal percentage, shooting 48.0 % from the field this season. The charity stripe has not been fully charitable for the Marauders this season, shooting just 67.4 % from the line on the season, which is second worst in the PSAC, ahead of only Bloomsburg.
Jaden Faulkner and Williams have been two of the top scoring options for Millersville this season, ranking first and second on the team in scoring, averaging 13.7 and 13.6 points per game, while Faulkner sits eighth in the PSAC in assists, averaging 4.4 per contest. Williams, who led Millersville in scoring in the victory over Lock Haven on Saturday, has six 20-point games to his credit on the season, shooting 42.4 % from the field entering the PSAC Tournament. Najdawi, who ranks third in the league in blocks has also been a scoring-threat this season, averaging 11.3 points per game while also coming away with 7.4 rebounds per contest as the top rebounder on the Marauders.
WITH A WIN
With a victory, West Chester will return to the PSAC Semifinals for the second time in the last three seasons and the first time since the 2018-19 season, facing the winner of the Pitt-Johnstown/Mercyhurst game on Saturday afternoon.
