Seward's Late Score Steals Win Away From Marauders

Millersville, Pa. - Ashland's Ronnie Seward scored on a driving lay-up with 16 seconds left, and Millersville's final shot rimmed out, giving the visiting Eagles a 64-60 victory in Pucillo Gymnasium Saturday evening.

The slugfest of a game stood tied 12 times and the lead changed hands as many. Millersville (1-1) led 28-23 at the break and maintained a marginal lead until Ashland's Justin Garris hit a free throw to tie the game at 38 with 14:41 left.

Points were hard to come by throughout the game and even more so late. Neither team held a lead of more than three points over the final 14 minutes until Seward's lay-up and Antoine Child's free throws in the waning seconds.

Ashland built its largest lead of the second half on a Seward lay-up with 3:14 left. Trailing 57-54, Millersville's Mike Seibert (Columbia/Columbia) answered with a 3-pointer and had a chance for a four-point play. But free throw shooting woes plaqued the Marauders all evening, and Seibert's free throw rimmed out. Still, Millersville continued to rally. Rob Wyley (Philadelphia/Monsignor Bonner), who finished the game with nine points and a career-high 16 rebounds, split a pair of free throws and then tipped-in a missed lay-up on Millersville's next trip to put the Marauders up 60-57.

With 1:07 left, Ashland's Kale Richardson re-tied the game with a deep 3-pointer from the left wing. The Marauders had a chance to take the lead. Demond Vance (Laurens, S.C./West Chester East) attacked one-on-one but his runner bounced away. Wyley followed with tip, but it, too, did not fall. Ashland's Blake Saunders grabbed the defensive rebound with 43 seconds left, setting up Seward's game-winner.

Following Steward's score, Marauder coach Fred Thompson called timeout to draw up a final play. Freshman Jaymes Miller (Houston, Texas/Abington (Pa.)) caught the in-bounds pass at the top of the key, drove down the right side of the lane and lofted a runner from the paint. The shot bounced in and out and landed int Childs' out-stretched hands.

The two teams combined for 42 fouls and 35 turnovers. Ashland shot 41 percent from the field and hit only two 3-pointers. The Marauders' were undone by its shooting woes. They managed to hit only 22-of-63 attempts (34.9 percent), and one night after hitting 30-of-37 free throws against Lock Haven, they converted just 13-of-25.

With 11 points, freshman Mike Holley (Baltimore, Md./Old Mill) was the lone Marauder in double figures. Wyley grabbed double-figure rebounds for the second game in a row and also totaled three of Millersville's nine blocks.

The two teams will see each other again in Ashland on Dec. 30. The Marauders return to action on Nov. 28 at Philadelphia. Game time is 3 p.m. The game will be broadcast on MSBN.