PSAC quarterfinal recap (W 99-91 OT at Kutztown)  l  Photo Gallery

EAST STROUDSBURG – Junior forward Duane Johnson was named to the first team and senior guard Russell Graham III and junior forward Terrance King were named to the second team, giving East Stroudsburg University three players on the All-PSAC East Men's Basketball squad for the first time in 18 seasons, the conference announced Wednesday.

Johnson, a second team selection as a sophomore, and King, the PSAC East Freshman of the Year in 2009-10, were both members of the All-PSAC East preseason team and end the regular season with postseason honors.

Graham, who played in just seven games due to injury last year after transferring from New Hampshire, established himself as one of the top point guards in the PSAC in his only full season for the Warriors.

All three were at their best in Tuesday night's 99-91 (OT) win at top-seeded Kutztown in the PSAC quarterfinals. King had 32 points and 10 rebounds, Johnson had 12 points and eight rebounds and Graham had 19 points, five rebounds and nine assists to lead the Warriors to the PSAC Final Four for the third straight season. ESU (18-11) plays Mercyhurst in the semifinals at West Chester on Friday at 5:30 p.m.

Graham (12.6 points per game), King (12.5) and Johnson (12.3) rank second, third and fourth on the Warriors in scoring behind freshman guard Whis Grant, who is averaging 14.1 points and had 16 at Kutztown. The Warriors' top four scorers have accounted for more than 60 percent of their points on the PSAC's second-leading scoring team, averaging 79.8 points per game.

Johnson (Lansdowne/Penn Wood) is fourth on the team in scoring, second in rebounding (6.1 per game), tied for second in assists (72), second in blocks (23) and third in steals (38) as one of the top all-around players in the PSAC.

The 6-7 junior enters the PSAC semifinals with 21 double-figure games, including a career-high 29 points in ESU's 93-86 (2OT) win at Kutztown on February 4. He has three double-doubles – 10 points and 10 rebounds at Edinboro, 13 points and 11 rebounds at Shippensburg and 29 points and 13 rebounds at Kutztown – and has been one of the Warriors' most consistent scorers, with at least seven points in all but one of their 29 games.

Johnson averaged 12.4 points and 4.9 rebounds and had 50 assists, 20 blocks and 41 steals to earn his first All-PSAC East honor as a sophomore. He posted 6.9 points and 3.4 rebounds as a key backup on the Warriors' 2009-10 NCAA Tournament team as a freshman.

King (Bushkill/East Stroudsburg North) had 32 points and 10 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season at Kutztown and is averaging 12.5 points and a team-high 6.6 rebounds per game while shooting 56.8 percent from the field and a career-best 72.4 percent at the foul line. He has been one of the PSAC's top shot blockers in his first three seasons at ESU and ranks third in school history with 138 career blocks, including 42 this season.

He has had five 20-point games this year – including two in the last three games – after hitting the mark once in his first two seasons. He has scored in double figures in 10 of the last 13 games and is averaging 20.8 points and 8.5 rebounds over the last four games going into Friday's semifinal vs. Mercyhurst.

King put up 10.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game as a sophomore after earning the PSAC East Freshman of the Year with 8.8 points and 4.4 rebounds per game in 2009-10. A three-year starter, King is posting career-highs in points, rebounds, steals and free throw percentage this season and has matched his career-best in field goal percentage.

Graham (Norristown/Norristown) has continued to impress as the end of his collegiate career draws closer. He is averaging 12.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 5.6 assists – second in the PSAC – along with 1.6 steals per game on the defensive end. His 161 assists this year are seventh in school history and nine away from the top five.

Graham has scored in double figures in 20 of the Warriors' last 22 games and has at least 10 points and five assists in 16 games this season. He is averaging 15.5 points and 6.8 assists over the last six games, including consecutive 19-point games, entering the PSAC Final Four, and is the only Warrior to start all 29 games.

Graham began his career at New Hampshire, where he was fifth in Division I in assist-to-turnover ratio and third in the America East Conference in assists per game as a sophomore before joining the Warriors. His first year was cut short due to injury after just seven games, but he has come back to average 31.5 minutes as the catalyst for ESU's up-tempo system.

This marks just the fifth time that ESU has had three All-PSAC selections and the first since 1994, when forwards Michael Smith and Eric White were on the first team and guard Howard Flowers was on the second team.

The Warriors also had three picks in 1992 with forward Todd Painton and center Lonnie White on the first team and forward James Brooks on the second team, and three in 1991 when forward Keith Fisher was on the first team and White and guard Mike DelGrosso were on the second team. The Warriors' 1972 team was represented by center John Lehman on the first team and guard Kevin Morrissey and forward Moe Griffin on the second team.

Bloomsburg, the PSAC East co-regular season champion with Kutztown, had three of the four major award winners in Player of the Year Dontahe Jordan, Coach of the Year John Sanow and Defensive Player of the Year Larry Webster, who received the award in its inaugural year. Mansfield's Joe Bell was the Freshman of the Year.

In the PSAC West, No. 1 seed and two-time defending PSAC champion IUP claimed the Player of the Year (Ashton Smith) and Coach of the Year (Joe Lombardi). Gannon's Adam Blazec is the Freshman of the Year and California's Travon Vann is Defensive Player of the Year.


All-PSAC East 1st Team
Jon Breeden, West Chester, Jr.
Eric Brennan, Kutztown, Sr.
Nate Edwards, Kutztown, Sr.
Duane Johnson, ESU, Jr.
Dontahe Jordan, Bloomsburg, So.
Lance McDowell, West Chester, Sr.

Player of the Year – Dontahe Jordan, Bloomsburg
Defensive Player of the Year – Larry Webster, Bloomsburg
Freshman of the Year – Joe Bell, Mansfield
Coach of the Year – John Sanow, Bloomsburg

All-PSAC East 2nd Team
Joe Bell, Mansfield, Fr.
Micah Fraction, Kutztown, Jr.
Russell Graham III, ESU, Sr.
Terrance King, ESU, Jr.
Jason Sabb, Cheyney, Jr.
Larry Webster, Bloomsburg, Sr.


All-PSAC West 1st Team
Darrell Blanton, Gannon, Jr.
Isaiah Prince, Edinboro, Jr.
Julian Sanders, IUP, Sr.
Ashton Smith, IUP, Sr.
Steve Swiech, California, Sr.
Devin Taylor, Slippery Rock, Sr.

Player of the Year – Ashton Smith, IUP
Defensive Player of the Year – Travon Vann, California
Freshman of the Year – Adam Blazek, Gannon
Coach of the Year – Joe Lombardi, IUP

All-PSAC West 2nd Team
Adam Blazek, Gannon, Fr.
Matt Lee, Mercyhurst, So.
Paul McQueen, Clarion, Sr.
Tabari Perry, Slippery Rock, Jr.
Travon Vann, California, Jr.
Winfield Willis, Clarion, Fr.