MARAUDERS REACH SECOND STRAIGHT EAST REGION FINAL WITH 81-73 VICTORY OVER PITT-JOHNSTOWN

March 16 – Forward Reggie Bates (jr. Chicago, Ill./Hubbard) scored a game-high 32 points and guard Charlie Parker (Fawn Grove, Pa./Kennard-Dale) added 16 as the Millersville University men’s basketball team advanced to their second consecutive NCAA East Region final with an 81-73 victory over Pitt-Johnstown in the semis.

Millersville will play the winner of the late game (California (Pa.) vs. Alderson Broaddus) in Tuesday night’s final taking place at California’s Hamer Hall at 7 p.m.

The Marauders led by seven at halftime and extended the lead to 10 with 13:36 to play behind the hot hand of Bates. 

After the Marauders’ lead shrunk to three (50-47) with 15:57 remaining, Bates took a feed from Parker and sank one of his six three-point field goals to push the lead to six.  Two free throws by UPJ’s Marcus Tullis cut the lead back to four, but another Parker-to-Bates three-point field goal cushioned the Marauder lead.  Bates then sank his third straight three-point attempt to give the Marauders their largest lead at 59-49.  Bates finished 6-of-12 from behind the arc.

With 16:37 to play in the second half, Parker made a steal and scored on a fastbreak lay-up to pass Gerald Redding (’03, 1,928 points) for second place on the all-time Marauder scoring list. Phil Walker (’77) sits in first place with 2,261 points. Parker now has 1,940.

UPJ did not go quietly, rattling off an 8-0 run to cut the Marauders’ lead back to two (59-57) with 10:29 to play.

The Marauder lead then grew to as many as six but was again cut to two (67-65) when Quinton Davis hit a pair of free throws at the 2:42 mark.

That was all the closer the Cats would get as Millersville used an 11-0 run for a 13-point advantage with 34 seconds to play.

Inbounding under their own basket and up by just two, Parker sprinted down the court where guard Cory Bray (fr. Red Lion/Red Lion) found him for a fastbreak dunk and a four-point lead.

Millersville then converted on 8-of-12 free throws down the stretch to seal the game and advance to the regional final.

Millersville’s defense was relentless down the stretch, forcing the Cats into 19 turnovers for the game and turning them into 27 points.

Both teams had second-half foul trouble with UPJ losing their leading scorer and rebounder, Chris Gilliam, for several minutes in the second half due to fouls.  RayQuan Miles (sr. Hampton, VA/Phoebus), who finished with eight points and a game-high 15 rebounds, sat out much of the second half with four fouls for the Marauders.

The Marauders led 44-37 at halftime behind 18 points from Bates, who scored 10 of the team‘s first 13 points in the opening 3:17. UPJ trailed despite shooting 54 percent from the floor in the first half. MU had nine steals in the opening 20 minutes compared to the Mountain Cats’ one.

The Mountain Cats led for several minutes early in the first half sparked by the impressive shooting of Tullis. Tullis finished with a team-high 18 points for the Mountain Cats and helped them maintain a lead until Lenny Henderson III (so. Philadelphia, Pa./Simon Gratz HS) came off the bench and gave the Marauders a huge boost with two 3-pointers midway through the first half.

Henderson’s back-to-back three’s tied and gave the Marauders the lead they would never give up.

Millersville will look to win their first East Region title since 1989, when they defeated Bloomsburg 87-71 to advance to the elite eight of the National Tournament.