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EAST STROUDSBURG - Redshirt senior forward Steve Harris was named to the All-PSAC East first team, redshirt junior guard Jakwan Jones earned a spot on the second team and East Stroudsburg University head coach Jeff Wilson was named PSAC East Coach of the Year for the third time in his career, it was released Thursday by the conference office.
 
ESU (22-5) will host the PSAC Final Four this weekend at Koehler Fieldhouse after an 85-71 win over Kutztown in the quarterfinals on Wednesday night.

The Warriors will play Edinboro on Saturday at 3:30 p.m., following the first semifinal between Gannon and Shippensburg at 1 p.m. The PSAC championship game is slated for Sunday at 3 p.m.
 
Harris, Jones and Wilson lead a team that has won eight straight games and 11 of its last 12 entering the PSAC semifinals.
 
The Warriors won the outright PSAC East division title, their fourth in the last six years, and advanced to the PSAC Final Four for the seventh time in the last nine seasons.

They are pursuing its third PSAC championship in the last seven years, after claiming the title in 2012 and 2014.

ESU leads the PSAC in scoring (93.5 ppg), assists (20.6 apg), turnover margin (+7.4), turnovers forced (22.3), steals (12.3 spg) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.38) with Harris and Jones at the forefront.

Harris (Hamilton, N.J./Notre Dame) leads ESU in scoring (14.9 ppg) and rebounding (7.3 rpg), and leads the PSAC in field goal percentage (65.5), as a fifth-year senior after missing all but five games due to injury last year.

He has posted six 20-point games, three more games with 19 points, five double-doubles and has scored in double figures in all but two of ESU's 27 games this season.

His biggest outputs vs. PSAC opponents are 25 points (8-10 fg, 9-13 ft) and 11 rebounds in a 101-95 win vs. Kuztown, 25 points (10-10 fg, 5-7 ft) and seven rebounds in a 94-76 win at Bloomsburg, 22 points (7-9 fg, 8-11 ft) in a 108-97 win vs. California, 21 points (9-11 fg, 3-4 ft) in a 99-88 win at Pitt-Johnstown, 20 points (7-8 fg, 6-9 ft) in a 111-101 win vs. West Chester and 20 points (7-8 fg, 6-9 ft) and nine rebounds in a 102-91 win at Kutztown.

He also had conference double-doubles vs. Mansfield (16 points, 11 rebounds), Bloomsburg (11 points, 13 rebounds), at West Chester (10 points, 11 rebounds) and at Mansfield (11 points, 10 rebounds). He had 10 points and eight rebounds in Wednesday night's PSAC quarterfinal win.

Harris' 10-for-10 performance from the field at Bloomsburg is ESU's best in at least 16 years. He is on pace to set ESU single-season (65.5) and career (63.4) records for field goal percentage.

He has pushed his career totals to 972 points and 622 rebounds, ninth in school history, entering the PSAC Final Four - and has shown steady improvement over his five years since averaging 2.0 points and 1.5 rebounds in about five minutes per game as a freshman on ESU's 2014 PSAC championship team that went 30-2.

He averaged 6.9 points and 3.7 rebounds in 15 minutes per night as a sophomore, 9.5 points and 8.3 rebounds in 22.5 minutes as a junior, and had 12.4 ppg and 10.4 rpg in five games last season.

Jones (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) ranks second in the PSAC in assists (6.1 per game), third in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.2), fourth in steals (2.0 spg) and fourth in free throw percentage (87.3) in his first season as ESU's starting point guard.

He is sixth on the Warriors in scoring with 9.0 points per game, averaging just over 21 minutes per night, while sharing time with redshirt junior guard Kitt Najee Walls to drive ESU's offense.

Through the first 22 games, before Walls missed four games due to injury, the tandem combined for 14.4 points, 9.7 assists and 3.3 steals per game.

Jones has had big games in early all of ESU's key PSAC wins - starting with a career-high 20 points along with five assists in a 90-79 win over defending PSAC champion Shippensburg on January 3.

He had 13 points and 10 assists in the 101-95 win vs. Kutztown, followed by nine points and 10 assists in a 97-77 win at Millersville and 12 points and nine assists in a 41-point win over Cheyney.

In the last two weeks, he had 17 points, four assists and a career-high six steals in the 94-76 win at Bloomsburg, 11 points and 13 assists vs. West Chester (111-101) and 14 points and 10 assists at Kutztown (102-91) which helped secure the PSAC East regular season title.

He has at least five assists in two-thirds (18 of 27) of ESU's games this season, and his 164 assists currently rank ninth in program history.

Wilson earns his third PSAC East Coach of the Year award  (2010, 2013, 2018) in a season in which he moved into the PSAC's top 10 in career wins - currently 293.

ESU's four outright PSAC East titles in the last six years are the division's most in 35 years, and the Warriors have won five regular season titles in nine years including a shared division title in 2010 - starting an almost decade-long run as the top program in the PSAC East.

The Warriors are on track to lead the PSAC in scoring for the sixth time in nine years, lead DII in turnover margin in the last five years, and have ranked in the top 15 in DII in steals in each of the last five years.

This year's team ranked fourth in DII in scoring, first in steals and turnovers forced, and second in assists and turnover margin entering the PSAC quarterfinals.

A 1986 ESU graduate and an assistant coach on ESU's 1990 PSAC championship team, Wilson has been a member of the Warriors program for 29 of the last 35 years - three as a player, 10 as an assistant coach and the last 16 as head coach.

ESU has made four NCAA Tournament appearances (2010, 2012-14) in his tenure and is looking to add a fifth this weekend when the national field is announced on Sunday night.

The Warriors are 192-71 (.730) since the start of the 2009-10 season, averaging 21.3 wins per year and posting 20+ wins in six of the last nine seasons.

Harris is the 10th ESU first-team All-PSAC East player under Wilson, and the 29th in program history. He joins previous first-team selections Danny Hargrove (2006), Chris Bach (2009), Andy Heimbach (2010), Duane Johnson (2012), Terrance King (2013), Whis Grant (2013-15), Matt Tobin (2014-15), Jamal Nwaniemeka (2016) and Rasheed Moore (2016-17) in the last 16 years.

The Warriors have had 19 players earn All-PSAC East honors under Wilson, including Harris and Jones.


PSAC East Athlete of the Year - Dustin Sleva, Shippensburg
PSAC East Defensive Athlete of the Year - Frank Rokins, West Chester
PSAC East Freshman of the Year - Moe Williams, Kutztown
PSAC East Coach of the Year - Jeff Wilson, ESU

All-PSAC East 1st Team
Steve Harris, ESU (Sr. F)
Amir Hinton, Lock Haven (So. G)
Anthony Lee, Kutztown (Jr. G)
Tyrell Long, West Chester (Sr. G)
Christian Mortellite, Bloomsburg (Sr. F)
Ethan Ridgeway, Kutztown (Sr. G)
Dustin Sleva, Shippensburg (Sr. F)

2nd Team
Marcus Adkison, Millersville (Jr. G)
Malik Carter, Mansfield (Sr. G)
John Castello, Shippensburg (So. F)
Jackson Hyland, West Chester (Jr. F)
Jakwan Jones, ESU (Jr. G)
Justin McCarthur, Shippensburg (Sr. G)
Matt Penecale, West Chester (Jr. G)


PSAC West Athlete of the Year - Anthony Glover, IUP
PSAC West Defensive Athlete of the Year - Damon Miraud, Gannon
PSAC West Freshman of the Year - Drew Magestro, Pitt-Johnstown
PSAC West Coach of the Year - Pat Cleary, Edinboro

All-PSAC West 1st Team
Dale Clancy, Pitt-Johnstown (Sr. G)
Jacobo Diaz, IUP (Jr. F)
Anthony Glover, IUP (Sr. G)
# Zay Jackson, Gannon (Sr. G)
Keyshawn Liggins, Edinboro (Sr. G/F)
# Jaymon Mason, Edinboro (Sr. G)
Micah Till, Slippery Rock (So. F)
Isaac Vescovi, Pitt-Johnstown (Sr. F)

# indicates tie

2nd Team
Trevor Blondin, Seton Hill (Jr. G)
Anthony Coleman, Edinboro (Jr. G)
Lorenzo Collier, Mercyhurst (Sr. G)
Cameron Grumley, Clarion (Sr. G)
Dante Lombardi, IUP (Jr. G)
Damon Miraud, Gannon (Sr. G/F)