Gallery: (1-13-2026) 2025-26 Men's Basketball vs. VILLE
SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University men's basketball team engaged in yet another barn burner with Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division rival Millersville on Wednesday night but came up just short, dropping a 72-70 decision to the Marauders in league action at Heiges Field House.
Shippensburg (6-9, 1-7 PSAC) and Millersville (10-5, 5-3) traded scoring runs throughout a nip-and-tuck second half. In fact, both teams produced an 11-0 run in the final 10 minutes of play.
SU trailed 38-33 at halftime and 44-35 at the 17:37 mark before reeling off a 10-0 run to take its first lead since the opening two minutes, 45-44. After a 9-2 counter by MU gave the Marauders a 53-47 lead with 11:00 left, the Raiders produced their 11-0 run to lead by five, 58-53, at the 7:29 mark.
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Michael Dickson three-pointer gave Shippensburg its largest lead of the game, 65-57, entering the final five minutes. It was at that juncture that Millersville embarked upon its decisive 11-0 run, as Day Waters' first three-pointer of the night gave the visitors a 68-65 advantage with 2:42 to go.
Up one in the final 30 seconds, Waters drained another three-pointer to put the Marauders up four, 71-67. After an SU miss, a turnover and a foul,
Jaydon Smith stole a pass and dished it to
Markus Frank for a corner three-pointer that got the Raiders back within one, 71-70, with six seconds left.
Neither team had yet reached the bonus, however, so the Raiders ended up fouling three times on subsequent in-bounds attempts. Aamir Hurst eventually made 1-of-2 at the free-throw line with four seconds left, but after a Raider rebound, Dante Weise shrewdly committed a pair of fouls as Millersville also still had two to give.
It left just 1.6 seconds off the clock, and a heave from 55 feet was no good at the buzzer.
Dickson and Waters had a game-high 18 points for their respective teams. Frank finished with 15 points, while Smith had eight points, five rebounds, two steals and a career-high four blocks.
Denzel Figueroa finished just a rebound shy of a double-double, as he scored a season-high 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting while grabbing a team-high nine rebounds. Figueroa also handed out three assists and blocked three shots.
Trey Martin played a team-high 35 minutes and scored seven points on 3-of-6 shooting while grabbing four rebounds and handing out three assists without committing a turnover.
A big key for the Marauders was the first-half performance of freshman Carnell Henderson, who was 4-of-5 from the field (including 3-of-4 from three-point range) in the opening 20 minutes. Henderson finished with a career-high 14 points, making 4-of-5 from beyond the arc.
Two Raiders achieved milestones on the night, as
Timmy Conner drained his 100th career three-pointer and Dickson recorded his 100th career steal.
Given the low foul totals, the two teams combined for just 14 free-throw attempts in the game. MU was 7-of-8 while SU was 4-of-6. The Raiders overcame 10 first-half turnovers, as the Marauders only scored nine points off those miscues.
Shippensburg won the rebound battle for the first time in the last 10 games and just the third time all season, finishing with a 34-31 edge.
Millersville has now won eight straight in the overall series, but the last two meetings at Heiges Field House have been two-point games. Five of the last eight contests between the two teams have been decided by four points or less.
Shippensburg hosts Kutztown at 8 p.m. Thursday at Heiges Field House.
