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Related:
Pocono Record - Warriors advance to regional final
Morning Call - ESU changes pace, beats Gannon

Morning Call - Passion at heart of ESU's success
Pocono Record - ESU gets another shot vs. West Liberty


EAST STROUDSBURG - Junior guard Whis Grant scored 23 points and No. 2-ranked East Stroudsburg University advanced to the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region final on Tuesday night with a 66-58 win over Gannon, Sunday night at Koehler Fieldhouse.

ESU (30-1), which survived Livingstone, 99-98, in the first round on Saturday, will face three-time regional champion West Liberty on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Koehler Fieldhouse. The Hilltoppers (27-3) outlasted IUP, 86-85 (3OT), in Sunday's first regional semifinal.

The Warriors will play for the regional title for the second time in school history, 24 years and one day to their appearance in the East Region final on March 17, 1990, a 72-63 loss to Gannon.

Sunday's win was 24 years to the day of ESU's 99-98 (OT) victory over Slippery Rock, the first and ony NCAA Tournament win in school history before Saturday's win over Livingstone. Now, the Warriors are one win from their first NCAA Division II Elite Eight trip.

ESU opened the game on a 15-2 run, then finished the first half with an 11-0 spurt to lead 36-19 at intermission.

Gannon closed the margin to five points, 49-44, with 8:50 remaining before the Warriors responded.

Senior forward Zechariah Runkle, who had seven points and 11 rebounds, had a steal and Grant found junior guard Matt Tobin for a key three-pointer that put the Warriors ahead eight (52-44) with 7:13 remaining.

Grant, named to the Daktronics All-Region first team for the second straight year on Thursday, hit another jumper the next time down, and ESU answered every time Gannon closed within six. Grant had a key bucket at the end of the shot clock for a 60-52 lead with 1:25 left, and Tobin (2-for-2) and Grant (2-for-2) were perfect from the line late.

Grant pitched ahead for a dunk by freshman forward Rasheed Moore that put the Warriors up 66-56 with 32 seconds left.

Tobin had nine points, four rebounds and four assists in 36 minutes, Moore added eight points and redshirt junior guard Will Brown had seven points off the bench as all five starters played at least 30 minutes.

Grant scored 29 points to lead five double-figure scorers in Saturday's win over Livingstone, along with Moore (18), Brown (16), Tobin (11 points, 11 assists) and sophomore guard Jamal Nwaniemeka (10).

Runkle had double-figure rebounds for the second straight game, pulling down a career-high 15 against Livingstone and grabbing 11 of the Warriors' 26 boards against Gannon.

ESU's full-court pressure forced 22 turnovers by Gannon, after creating 27 in a 75-60 win over Gannon on January 3.

A'Darius Porter had 17 points and 10 rebounds, Matthew Dogan scored 13 and Raphell Thomas-Edwards had 12 points and nine rebounds for Gannon (20-10), which beat Charleston 66-64 in the first round on Saturday.

Adam Blazek, the PSAC West Athlete of the Year and a first team Daktronics All-Region selection as a junior, had six points, four assists and five turnovers for the Golden Knights.


GAME NOTES
* The regional semifinals included the last five regional champions - Gannon (2009), IUP (2010) and West Liberty (2011-13). ESU is hosting an NCAA men's basketball regional for the first time in program history.

* ESU (30-1) is the 4th PSAC team to reach 30 wins. IUP was 33-3 in 2010, advancing to the national championship game. Gannon was 30-4 in 2009, and California was 31-2 in 1992.

* ESU is 1-2 all-time against West Liberty. The two schools met twice in 2011-12 -- West Liberty won 96-92 in the season opener in a tournament at Shippensburg, and 119-82 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at West Liberty after the Warriors earned the PSAC's automatic bid with the conference tournament title.
* ESU won 90-79 in a tournament at Clarion in 1999-00.

* Tuesday night's game will be the only regional final between schools in the top 10 in the final NABC DII poll of the regular season - ESU is ranked No. 2 and West Liberty (28-3) is No. 7.
* It is also the only No. 1 vs. No. 2 match-up in the 8 regions in DII.

* The 8 regional champions advance to the Elite 8 in Evansville, Indiana on March 26-29.

* West Liberty's 86-85 (3OT) win over IUP was just the 9th 3OT game in NCAA DII Tournament history.
* The most recent was a 104-103 win by St. Joseph's (Ind.) over Quincy in the 2010 Midwest region final.

* ESU's 99 points on Saturday against Livingstone were the most of any of the 32 first-round games in this year's NCAA DII Tournament.

* ESU is in the NCAA DII Tournament for the 4th time in 5 years, and the 5th time in school history.
* ESU improves to 3-4 in NCAA Tournament games.
* ESU's first 2 NCAA Tournament wins came by the same score - 99-98 (1990 vs. Slippery Rock in OT, 2014 home vs. Livingstone).

* ESU's PSAC championship last week at Koehler Fieldhouse (W 92-80 vs. West Chester) was the program's 2nd in 3 years, and 3rd in school history (also 1990).

* ESU extends a school record with its 30th win. The previous record of 24 wins was set in 2009-10, going 24-6.

* ESU's No. 2 ranking is the highest in school history, and the highest for a PSAC school since IUP was No. 2 on March 9, 2010.

* ESU improves to 18-0 at Koehler Fieldhouse this year, and has won 20 straight home games dating to last season.

* 22 of ESU's 30 victories have come by double figures. The Warriors were 4th in DII in scoring margin (+17.8) entering the week.

* The Warriors have won 72 games in the last 3 years (72-20), the most in school history. The 1970-71 through 72-73 teams were 63-12.

* The Warriors are 112-38 since the start of the 2009-10 season, the 3rd-most wins and 3rd-best winning percentage in the Atlantic Region in the last 5 years.

* ESU won its 2nd straight PSAC East regular season title this winter, and the 4th in school history (1992, 2010, 2013, 2014).
 
* Jeff Wilson, 2013-128 in his 12th season, ranks 2nd at ESU in career victories.
* Ken Sisson holds the career record with 215, going 215-245 in 19 years (1963-78, 79-83).

* ESU finished ranked in the NABC DII poll for the first time in school history.
* ESU is ranked in the top 10 in DII for the 11th straight week, and the 13th week in program history.
* ESU is ranked in the top 25 for the 15th straight week, after being ranked for 13 weeks in program history previously.

* ESU has won 10 straight since its only loss of the season, 82-80 at Lock Haven on February 6.
* ESU is the first PSAC team to have win streaks of 20+ and 10+ games in the same season.

* ESU was the final undefeated team in DII this season at 20-0.
* ESU's 20-game win streak to start the season was the PSAC's longest since 1994-95, when IUP opened 21-0.
* The last PSAC team to go undefeated in the regular season was Cheyney (24-0) in 1965-66.

* ESU led DII in turnover margin (+7.7) entering the weekend. The Warriors won the turnover margin, 22-19, after losing it against Livingstone (14-10) for just the 2nd time in 31 games this season.
* When holding a turnover margin of +5 or greater, ESU is: 20-1 this year, 35-3 the last 2 years, and 55-11 since the start of the 2009-10 season.

* Grant moved into 5th at ESU with 1,468 career points, surpassing Russ Hopewell, who scored 1,446 points from 1958-62.
* Hopewell was an All-PSAC and AP Little All-America selection, along with winning a PSAC championship in the long jump. He set a school record at 24-4 which still ranks 3rd in school history.

* Grant had his 28th career game with 20+ points, and 12th this year. ESU is 23-5 when he scores 20+ (49-15 when he does not).

* Grant has scored 543 points this year, 7th-most in school history and the most since 3-time All-America Jonathan Roberts, ESU's all-time leading scorer (2,218 points), scored a school-record 689 as a senior in 2009-10.

* Grant extended his single-season record for 3-pointers to 85. He surpassed Andy Heimbach (76, 2009-10) in the PSAC championship game last Sunday.
* He ranks 2nd in career 3-pointers with 207, behind Heimbach's record 236 (2006-10).

* Tobin moved into sole possession of 2nd on ESU's single-season assist list with 197. Robby Pines had 193 assists on ESU's 2009-10 team that finished 24-6.
* Bob Schlosser set the school record of 230 in 1974-75.
* Tobin is 4th on ESU's career assist list with 360 in his 2nd season as a starter. Mike DelGrosso holds the record of 467 (1987-91).

* Tobin also moved into 6th on the single season list with 69 steals.

* Grant and Tobin were both named to the All-PSAC East 1st team last week. Rasheed Moore was a 2nd team selection and the Freshman of the Year.
* Moore has 418 points and 195 rebounds during his freshman season, both 3rd-most by an ESU freshman since 1974-75.
* Shahad Abdur-Rahkman scored 478 points in 1999-00, and Grant scored 431 in 2011-12.
* Jonathan Roberts had 240 rebounds in 1986-87, and Abdur-Rahkman had 199 in 1999-00.