Darrian Hopson
Staff Writer

On Saturday night at the Pucillo Gymnasium, the Millersville men’s basketball team recorded their first win of the 2013-2014 season, cruising in the second half to defeat the Rutgers-Camden Scarlet Raptors with a score of 69-50.
Coming into the game, the Scarlet Raptors were also looking for their first win of the season as well.

The Marauders faced a winless Raptors team and sent them back without a win on the season.
The Marauders faced a winless Raptors team and sent them back without a win on the season.

In their home opener, the Marauders received a boost from junior guard Tyree Smith who tallied 17 points on 5-12 shooting from the field, in addition to grabbing eight rebounds. Senior guard Nate Bollinger was an effective 3-6 from beyond the arc, finishing with 16 points.
At halftime, Millersville trailed 25-21 in part due to shooting 8 for 33 from the field. Come the start of the second half, the Marauders picked up their percentage, shooting 14-27 from the field. Teon Russell of the Scarlet Knights fueled their first half, scoring 21 points while also nabbing 11 rebounds.
In the second half, Smith began the comeback along with guard Tavon Parker who netted 10 of his 11 points in the second half of play.
At the 11:02 minute mark, Brandon Brown knocked down a set of free throws to break the 35 all tie, and the Marauders led for what was left of the game.
With 2:57 left to play, Rutgers-Camden committed a technical foul which had allowed the Marauders to push the then-largest lead to 17 after Bollinger sank both free throw attempts.
The Marauders out rebounded Rutgers-Camden by a margin of 44-39, with forward Xavier Mumford adding a career high 15 boards and guard Brandon Brown supplying 10 as well. Those rebounds led to 10 second chance points. Defensively, Mumford also made his presence known with four blocks. The bench of Millersville also outscored that of the Scarlet Raptors’ 27 to 6.
From the free throw line, Millersville shot 16 of 24 including the final one by sophomore Matthew Smith, who pushed the largest lead of the contest to 19. Conversely the opposition made just 8-26 from the line, including a 1-9 in the second half of play.
Although Rutgers-Camden outscored the Marauders in the paint 26 to 24, it deemed not to be enough as Millersville shot 9-33 from beyond the arc in which 6 of those makes came in the second half.
Millersville also forced the Scarlet Raptors into 17 turnovers, eight which were steals. As a result they scored 20 points from those turnovers.
The victory gives Millersville (1-1) a win heading into PSAC Eastern Division play, where they will take on Bloomsburg November 20th.