With the Greg Testa/Charlie Parker and Reggie Bates eras over at Millersville, coach Fred Thompson was eager prior to the start of his 12th year to see who would step up and become the next face of Marauder basketball.

It appears, two games into the season, that person is Jason Blake.

The senior guard matched teammate Palmer McDurfee for a game-high 19 points to lead the Marauders to a 76-73 overtime win over C.W. Post Saturday afternoon at Pucillo Gym.

A year ago, Post hung a 40-point loss on the Marauders in New York. The Pioneers, who have since lost all five starters, went on to a 30-0 record before losing to eventual national champion Findlay in the NCAA Elite Eight.

"That's a big early-season win for us," said Thompson, whose team is now 2-0. "They're not as good as they were last year, but they're good."

Blake came up big when Thompson needed him most, whether hitting the game-tying bucket with 4.5 seconds left in regulation or scoring six points, grabbing three rebounds and blocking a shot in OT.

"First half, I started off slow until coach woke me up," said the 6-foot-2 Blake, who pulled down a game-high eight rebounds. "I had to step my game up. We're a small team, so I had to go help on the defensive and offensive boards and I just tried to help my team out."

Blake scored 18 points and had eight rebounds in Millersville's season-opening win over Penn State Abington. "He seems like a different player this year," Thompson said of Blake, who averaged 7.8 points per game last year.

The Marauders fell behind early, 12-4, but battled back and tied the game at halftime, 31-31. Blake took only one shot in the first half and had just one rebound. McDurfee paced the home team with 13 points in the opening half.

Blake converted a three-point play at the start of the second half that sparked a 9-0 Marauder run, making it 40-31. But the Pioneers chipped away at the deficit and, thanks to 13-3 burst, eventually took a 44-43 lead with 12:42 to play.

Tied 51-51 with under 6:00 to go, MU scored six straight points and led 57-51 with 3:52 left. The Marauders led by five with 1:44 left, but Post rallied to tie it 40 seconds later and then eventually took a 63-61 lead with 16.7 remaining.

That's when Blake hit a driving floater in the lane with 4.5 on the clock to force OT.

"We had a bunch of young guys out there and they responded really well," Thompson said. "You test the will of these kids, the heart and their toughness. All that was tested and these kids passed. They responded to the adversity out there on the court when they had to."

The Pioneers led by as many as three in OT before Mike Seibert (five points) buried a 3-pointer to put the Marauders back in front, 73-71, with 29.8 left. After a Post bucket to tie it, Blake knocked down a pair of free throws with 17.6 to go that put the Marauders ahead to stay.

"It's good to play in a tough game like that," Blake said. "It's going to prepare us for later in the season. It shows that if we play hard, get down and play defense and run the offense, that we can run with anybody."