By MIKE KUHNS
Record Sports
March 01, 2012

EAST STROUDSBURG — Sometimes a team just knows who to get the ball to.

On Tuesday night, the player with the hot hand was junior Terrance King.

East Stroudsburg University's forward scored a season-high 32 points, including the first five in overtime as the fourth-seeded Warriors advanced with a 99-91 overtime victory over top-seeded Kutztown.

"Terrance could sense that he was having a special night," ESU coach Jeff Wilson said on Wednesday. "Our guys could sense that too. What he threw up, it went in."

The men's Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference playoffs just got a lot more interesting.

The quarterfinal win gave ESU (18-11) a chance to avenge an early-season loss to Mercyhurst, the No. 2 seed in the West. Mercyhurst defeated ESU 70-65 in the two teams' only meeting this year, a game where Wilson felt his team didn't play their game.

"We want to try and get it up and down the floor a little more," Wilson said.

His Warriors did that Tuesday night against the Golden Bears, who have what Wilson called, "the best four scoring combination in the league."

Kutztown guard Micah Fraction led all scorers with 34 points.

The fast-paced game was filled with scoring — King hitting 32 points to go with 10 rebounds for his 10th career double-double. The East Stroudsburg North graduate was also 10-for-11 from the free throw line. Russell Graham III added 19 points, tying his career high, for the Warriors.

For the second straight year, ESU beat Kutztown in the PSAC playoff quarterfinal and the Warriors advanced to the tournament semifinal for the third straight season.

Now we'll see what Wilson and the Warriors do with the opportunity. Mercyhurst advanced with a 77-69 victory over Slippery Rock. The two teams will tip off at 5:30 p.m. Friday night at West Chester.

"We've been a better road team than home team," Wilson said. "I don't know why that is. You could hear the guys (Tuesday night), and we've termed it road Warriors."