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EAST STROUDSBURG – East Stroudsburg University rode a historic defensive effort in the first half to a 68-52 win over Millersville, tying a school record with its fifth straight PSAC win by double figures, on Wednesday night at Koehler Fieldhouse.

The Warriors (14-2, 11-1) continued their best-ever PSAC start and extended their winning streak to eight games and 12 of their last 13 by holding Millersville to 13 points in the first half – the fewest in their 297 games under 11th-year head coach Jeff Wilson.

Sophomore guard Whis Grant scored 17 points, senior forward Terrance King and sophomore guard Matt Tobin scored 14 each and senior forward Duane Johnson had five points and a career-high 14 rebounds for ESU, which holds a two-game lead on West Chester for the top spot in the PSAC East. The Warriors, the defending PSAC champions, were first in "others receiving votes" in this week's NABC Division II poll.

Junior forward Zechariah Runkle had seven points, six rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks in his third straight start and senior forward Gerald Bridges had six points and four rebounds after missing the last two games due to injury. Johnson also added two steals and two blocks, Tobin had five assists and King pulled down five rebounds to become the eighth player in school history with 600 in his career.

Grant, who went for 101 points in his previous four games, was one of three Warriors to play 36 minutes in the backcourt along with Tobin and Johnson.

Jaymes Miller scored 15 points, Larry Grant had 11 off the bench and Elijah Obade, the nation's leading rebounder, had eight points, seven rebounds and two blocks to lead Millersville (12-6, 8-4), which entered tied for second in the PSAC East with West Chester.

ESU, playing at home for the first time since January 5, won four straight road games in the interim, all by 10+ points. The Warriors matched their record for consecutive double-figure PSAC wins that was set in 1942-43 and tied in 1970-71.

The Warriors' eight-game winning streak against PSAC foes is also their second-longest in the last 70 years. They won nine straight PSAC games in 2007-08 – the three streaks of 10+ games all came in the early years of the program from 1926 through 1943, including a record 15 straight from 1940-41 through 1941-42.

ESU jumped on Millersville early, opening leads of 9-0 and 25-6, and led 37-13 at halftime. Runkle opened the game with a  three, and Grant, Bridges and Tobin all connected on three's in the first seven minutes as the Warriors ran out to a 20-6 advantage.

They held the Marauders scoreless for a stretch of almost seven minutes in the middle of the half until Anthony Coleman (eight points) broke an 11-0 run with a bucket with just under eight minutes left.

A putback by King gave the Warriors the final points of the first half and a 37-13 lead. Millersville was 5-for-21 with 16 turnovers – leading to a 15-0 ESU advantage in points off turnovers – in the first 20 minutes.

ESU led by 26 (41-15) early in the second half before Millersville stormed back with a 20-4 run to make it 45-35 with more than 12 minutes left. Tobin answered with a three-pointer, the first of two key shots in the second half, as the Warriors maintained a lead of at least eight points down the stretch.

Grant cut it to eight (57-49) with 4:00 to play, but Tobin hit another three the next time down and held the Marauders to just three points the rest of the way. Tobin, King and Grant combined for 20 of the Warriors' final 23 points in the last 13 minutes.

The Warriors forced a total of 25 turnovers after entering as the PSAC leader with 19.7 per game, and Millersville shot 18-for-48 from the field, including 2-for-11 from three-point range.

They came into the game ranked 12th in Division II in turnover margin at +5.3 and posted a +9 figure on Wednesday night.

ESU hosts Shippensburg (4-12, 2-10) on Saturday. Ship fell to West Chester, 74-57, after beating Bloomsburg and Mansfield last week.


GAME NOTES
* ESU is 18-3 since the final game of the regular season last year.
* The Warriors are 74-32 since the start of the 2009-10 season (school-record 24 wins) - the first season for Bridges, Johnson and King.
* The school record for wins by a four-year class (76) was set in 2010 and tied in 2012.

* ESU's 5-game streak of 10+ point wins -- 84-72 at Slippery Rock, 85-75 at Edinboro, 93-69 at Mansfield, 81-62 at Kutztown and 68-52 vs. Millersville.

* The fewest 1st half points allowed by the Warriors under Wilson was 15 in a 100-49 win over Briarcliffe in 2004-05 (led 48-15 at halftime).
* The fewest 1st half points allowed to a PSAC team was 17 in a 54-49 win over West Chester in 2004-05 (led 21-17 at halftime).

* ESU moved one game over .500 in program history (971-970). On Saturday at Kutztown (W 81-62), the Warriors hit the .500 mark as a program for the first time in 16 years (since January 18, 1997).

* ESU played at home for the first time since January 5 after winning 4 straight road games - extending its PSAC road winning streak to 9 games, the best in school history. The Warriors will play on the road in 4 of their final 11 regular season games (including Wednesday night).

* King moved into 16th in school history with 1,157 points, passing Andy Heimbach (1,153 - 2006-10) and Todd Painton (1,144 - 1988-92). Johnson is 14th with 1,171 points.
* King moved into 8th with 602 career rebounds. Next up is Al Munford, who had 613 from 1994-98 -- after that is Channon Easley (698 - 2004-08).
* King moved into a tie for 9th with 258 free throws made, matching Juwan Justice (1998-02).

* Johnson moved into 5th with 302 free throws made, and a tie for 5th with 131 steals, matching Pat Fleury (2005-09) and Chris Diller (1994-98).
* Johnson moved into 15th with 534 career rebounds. He is already one of two players (along with Jonathan Roberts) in the top 10 in both steals and blocks.

* Grant went over the 700-point mark for his career (706 in 47 games - 15.0 ppg). He has scored 118 points in the last 5 games (23.6 ppg) - 28 at Slippery Rock, 29 at Edinboro, 25 at Mansfield, 19 at Kutztown and 17 vs. Millersville.
* Grant led the Warriors with 13.9 ppg on last year's PSAC championship team. He is averaging 17.2 ppg this season.