The game was dominated by three-point shooting from both teams. In the first half Shippensburg got out to an early lead, but Millersville was able to hold off the Raiders offense.

There were five lead changes in the first half alone, but key three point shooting from freshman Jim Kelleher gave Millersville a 29-26 lead with 3:52 left in the half. Shippensburg made a comeback hitting another shot beyond the arc with about a minute left in the first half, bringing the score to 33-32 giving Millersville the lead at halftime.

The Marauders entered the second half with plenty of energy and motivation that Ship struggled to stop. In previous weeks the Marauders struggled to find success in the second half, but the game Monday night showed a different team.

A key turning point came when sophomore Mike Seibert hit a three-point shot while being fouled. Seibert added a free throw to finish the four point play bringing the score to 48-43 in Millersville’s favor.

The Marauders fed off this turning point to fuel their offensive game going up by 15 points at one point, their biggest lead of the game, with a score of 74-59. However, Ship made the game exciting with a late game comeback.

The Raiders cut the lead to 12 with only 2:12 remaining in the game and holding Millersville scoreless for almost two minutes. Shippensburg brought the game within eight points with 1:32 left to play in the game.

With time running out the Raiders turned to fouling the Marauders, who kept the game out of reach by hitting key free throws, bringing the final score to 79-71.

This is the first win for the Marauders in six games, and the second in the last seven games. With only three games remaining in the season the Marauders still have high hopes. “I’m still optimistic at this point, I still feel like we can make a push at the end of the season and hopefully get in the playoffs,” sophomore guard Nigel Davis said.

Millersville had five players who scored double digits including Seibert who had a career high of 26 points. Seibert also led the charge from beyond the arc hitting seven of 11 shots. Kelleher, seniors Palmer McDurfee and Jason Blake, and sophomore Rob Wyley all joined Seibert in double digit scoring.

Millersville is now tied with West Chester and Shippensburg with a PSAC East divisional record of 3-7. Millersville’s overall record now stands at 8-15. The team will travel to East Stroudsburg and Bloomsburg before playing their final home game Feb. 27 against Mansfield.

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Millersville hosted Slippery Rock on Saturday, and failed to get a shot on goal in the first half of play. Still, the Marauders were not out of the game. Millersville did not allow a goal in the first half either. However, things did not improve in the second half as the Marauders could only muster one shot on goal following the break, while Slippery Rock netted three in the final 45 minutes.

Millersville has managed just two goals in their last seven games, while opponents have found the back of the net 19 times in that span. For the season, the Marauders have scored a paltry 10 goals through 10 games , which is hardly enough to keep the team in games. Especially when they have yielded 26 goals in that time.

“We have people that can score,” senior Sarah Cameron said. “We’re not even looking to shoot it though. We have to have more of a scoring mentality, it’s always been pass first. We need someone to step up and start taking shots and hopefully the rest of the team will follow in that path.”

The Marauders entered the year looking for their first winning season since 2004 when they went 10-6-1. If things do not turn around soon, it does not seem as though the Marauders will be able to put an end to their sub-.500 streak. However, it is hard to say that any college team with a roster as young as the Marauders would fair any better thus far in the season.

The Millersville roster features 19 players who are in their freshman or sophomore years out of the total 26 members on the roster. Growing pains are to be expected. The underclassmen are getting their fair share of college level experience that will no doubt benefit the team this year. Of the 26 members, 24 will be returning for next season.

However, that still is a year away, and hope is not lost on this year’s squad. The team is halfway through its conference schedule and faces each opponent in the PSAC East a second time. Millersville hopes to fair better against the conference opponents as they went 1-5 against them in the beginning half of the season, with their lone win coming against Shippensburg.

“Our freshmen go to see every team once, so the jitters shouldn’t be there anymore,” Cameron said. “We just have to calm down and play our game. I don’t think these teams are three goals better than us.”

As the season continues to approach the end, the light at the end of the tunnel for the Marauders seems to keep getting dimmer. Still, it is only the halfway point, and the Marauders could really begin to show improvement over the next few weeks.

“We just have to go out and keep playing hard every game no matter what the score was before. It’s time for us to start putting two halves together,” Cameron said.

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Shippensburg amassed 566 total yards of offense against the Marauders’ porous defense as the Red Raiders came away on top with a final score of 63-24. This marks the second week in a row Millersville has yielded 63 points in a game. Last weekend, the Marauders fell to West Chester by a score of 63-10.

While the offense did not do too much to help the defense last weekend against West Chester, they did what they could by tallying 24 points this week against the Red Raiders. Senior running back Brad Lantz carried the load on the gound for a season-high of 107 yards. The offense kept the game close midway through the same quarter as a run by sophomore receiver Matt Egenrieder ran the ball in from 11 yards out to pull the team within four points at 21-17 with just over seven and a half minutes remaining in the half.

It would not be enough, however, as Shippensburg would score 35 unanswered points before Millersville scored their final touchdown on the day. Senior quarterback Bill Shirk threw for 130 yards and found receiver Jamal Smith in the endzone twice on the day to go with his one interception thrown. It was not a very good day for the special teams as well, as they had two field goals blocked and one missed as.

Shippensburg had no problem moving the ball up and down the field on they day as they gained 354 yards on the ground, and another 212 through the air on 15-of-19 passing. The Red Raiders averaged an impressive 7.9 yards per carry.

Things started off well for the Marauders this season, in which they were hoping to bury memories of last season’s 1-10 finish in head coach Greg Colby’s inaugural year. After opening the season with a win against Assumption College, Millersville dropped two games against tough opponents that they very well could have won but just could not put everything together at the right time. Although they came away with those losses to Slippery Rock and IUP, the Marauders took away positives from each game, especially the IUP game because they lost only 17-3 compared to a 63-3 defeat in 2008.

However, the Marauder’s defense over the last week has played like the defense from last year. Things do not seem to be getting brighter for Millersville as they prepare to play against fourth ranked Bloomsburg this week. Bloomsburg is 5-0 and is just coming off a 28-14 victory of C.W. Post. The Huskies have taken the last nine meetings against the teams and look to extend that streak this weekend.

If the Marauders hope to turn things around this weekend, they will have to hope to get off to a hot start. The Marauders have opened games sluggishly this season, as they have been outscored 42-3 in the first quarter at this point during the season.

Bloomsburg does not feature a great offense but they have a very stout defense their offense. This match-up could present the potential for an upset this week, with Millersville experienced offense they can put points on the board in a hurry.

“It is very important to try and score first, in case we get put into a perdicament where the other team keeps putting points up on our defense,” junior running back Akeem Johnson said. “Just like I believed the last few weeks, that if we can keep our heads up and play hard we can come out with an upset.”

The Marauders, however, feel like they are right there in terms of stringing together a few more wins this season.

“We have it on both sides of the ball,” Johnson said. “It’s just a matter of bringing everything together. We just have to go as hard as we do when we first start the game.” That will be vital against a disciplined Huskies team.

“We play with a lot of togetherness. We’re still young but overall we work good together and we’re intense,” Johnson said. “We just have to bring the fun back into the game.”

The fun starts at 5 p.m. on Saturday at Bloomsburg University.

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