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Complete
Box Score
EDINBORO, PA – Edinboro’s quest for a
third straight Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship
came to an end on Friday night as the Fighting Scots suffered a
65-55 loss to Millersville in the PSAC semifinals. The contest was
played at California(Pa.)’s Hamer Hall.
Edinboro finishes its season with a 19-10
record. The Fighting Scots also see their string of two straight
appearances in the NCAA Division II Playoffs come to an end.
Millersville, the fourth-ranked team in the East Region, improves
to 25-4 and moves on to face the winner of the California(Pa.)-
Cheyney game in Saturday’s championship game.
The contest matched the PSAC’s top
defensive team, Edinboro, against a Millersville team which leads
the PSAC in scoring. The Fighting Scots did a solid job
defensively, holding the Marauders well under their season scoring
average of 82.9 ppg., and also limited them to 32.8 percent
shooting from the floor. Millersville came in ranked second in the
PSAC in field goal percentage at 47.7 percent, while Edinboro was
first in field goal percentage defense and third nationally at
38.0 percent.
However, one area Edinboro appeared to have an
advantage was on the boards. The fighting Scots ranked third in
rebounding margin while the Marauders were 12th. But on this
evening Millersville controlled the glass, 49-37. That was enough
to overcome 19 turnovers by a Millersville team that came in
leading the PSAC in turnover margin.
Edinboro jumped to a seven-point lead at 16-9
with 7:47 left in the first half as Daren Tielsch (McKees
Rocks, PA/Montour) scored eight points and Curtis Ingram
(Youngstown, OH/Cardinal Mooney) added six markers.
Millersville proceeded to go on a 10-2 run to
take the lead at 19-18 with four-and-half-minutes remaining. The
two teams would end up tied at the half at 24-24. Both teams
struggled with their shooting. Edinboro shot just 34.4 percent
over the first twenty minutes, but Millersville was even worse at
26.5 percent.
Millersville scored the first basket of the
second half, but Edinboro then scored the next eight points for a
32-26 lead at the 17-minute mark. Tielsch scored on a pair of
layups to start the run, followed by a Ryan McLemore
(Cleveland, OH/St. Peter Chanel) layup. Devon Knight
(Pittsburgh, PA/Penn Hills) capped the burst with a jumper.
The Marauders slowly came back and finally
caught Edinboro for good at 35-34 on a three-pointer by Reggie
Bates with 11:47 remaining. The lead remained at one point over
the next four minutes before Millersville’s Greg Testa and
Charles Jones drained three’s to give the Marauders a
seven-point lead at 50-43 with 6:28 left.
Edinboro answered with five straight points,
four by Ingram, to get within two at 50-48. But Millersville’s
Charlie Parker made one of two free throws, and after Edinboro
missed a three, Testa scored on a layup to make it 53-48. Bernard
Brown’s layup and another Parker free throw made it six
straight points for the Marauders and a 56-48 lead with just 2:58
to play. A pair of Tielsch free throws pulled the Scots to within
six, but the Marauders made 6 of 8 free throws over the final
two-and-a-half minutes to hold off the Boro.
Tielsch concluded a brilliant three-year career
for the Fighting Scots with 12th double-double of the season,
finishing with 23 points and 13 rebounds. The 6’8”
senior made 9 of 18 field goals and was 5 of 9 at the line.
Tielsch finishes his career ranking eighth in both scoring and
rebounding, moving up a spot in each category tonight. He totaled
1,377 career points and 739 career rebounds.
Fellow senior Ingram also finished his career
in double figures with 12 points, and pulled down 7 boards. Joseph
Jones (Erie, PA/Cathedral Prep) handed out 8 assists, but Edinboro’s
third-leading scorer at 12.7 ppg. managed just 5 points while
going 1-for-9 from the field.
Millersville was led by Testa, who finished
with 21 points. Backcourt mates Bates and Parker finished with 13
and 11 points, respectively, and they led the Marauders with 9
rebounds apiece.
Edinboro ended up tying the school record for
wins in a three-year period with 64. The Scots also fell one win
short of reaching 20 wins for the third straight year, something
which had never been done before.
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