Box Score  l  Photo Gallery  |  Highlights/Postgame Reaction

Recaps
1st round - 78-69 vs. Gannon
2nd round - 90-76 vs. West Chester

Photos
Gannon  l  West Chester  l  Shippensburg  l  Return to campus

PSAC Championship merchandise (until March 23)


NCAA DII Elite 8
* Host site information  l  Bracket

Quarterfinals - Tuesday, March 20 - 9:30 PM ET (8:30 PM CT) (GAME NOTES)
#6 seed ESU (27-5) vs. #3 Northern State (34-3)
* Warriors in Elite 8 for 1st time
* Northern in for 2nd time (first since 1998)

Other games (ET / CT)
1:00 p.m. (12:00) - #4 West Texas A&M (31-3) vs. #5 Le Moyne (27-6)
3:30 p.m. (2:30) - #1 Ferris State (35-1) vs. #8 Barry (23-8)
7:00 p.m. (6:00) - #2 Queens (N.C.) (31-3) vs. #7 Cal Baptist (28-5)

Semifinals - Thursday, March 22
9:30 p.m. ET (8:30 p.m. CT) (ESU in 2nd semifinal of 6-8:30 local format)

Final - Saturday, March 24
3:00 p.m. ET (2:00 p.m. CT) (broadcast by CBS)


ETTRICK, Va. - A 17-5 run over the last 4:23 of regulation lifted East Stroudsburg University to its first-ever NCAA Division II Atlantic Region Championship on Tuesday, as the Warriors topped Shippensburg by an 84-72 final at Virginia State.

ESU (27-5) won its 13th straight game overall to book a spot in the Elite Eight in Sioux Falls, S.D., next Tuesday. The Warriors add their regional title to their third PSAC championship in seven years, and fifth PSAC East regular season title in the last nine years under 16th-year head coach Jeff Wilson (298 career wins - 9th in PSAC history).

The game was tied 67-67 when redshirt senior forward Steve Harris, named tournament MVP, ignited ESU's run to close the game. Harris scored six of ESU's final 17 points, including buckets on two straight possessions to open a four-point lead, and finished with 15 points and six rebounds on 7-for-11 shooting.

Redshirt junior guard Jakwan Jones, also named to the all-tournament team, converted a three-point play for a 74-70 lead with 2:14 left to answer a three by Ship's Antonio Kellem.

Harris scored again with 1:44 remaining, and the Warriors were 6-for-6 at the line down the stretch - two free throws by redshirt junior forward Josh Williams (team-high 16 points, 8 rebounds) and four by senior guard Ryan Krawczeniuk (10).

Williams, Harris, Jones (13 points), junior guard Kitt Najee Walls (12 points, 5 assists) and Krawczeniuk gave ESU five players in double figures, with sophomore forward Kobi Nwandu scoring eight, senior forward Ralik Wise six and freshman guard Marc Rodriguez four.

Harris averaged 17.3 points on 19-of-27 shooting (70.4 percent) in ESU's three regional victories - 78-69 vs. Gannon in the first round, and 90-76 vs. West Chester in the second round - to repeat his performance as PSAC Tournament MVP last weekend at Koehler Fieldhouse. The fifth-year senior is the top scorer (15.0 ppg) and rebounder (7.5 rpg) in ESU's 10-man rotation which is third in DII with 92.9 points per game.

Shippensburg (25-8) was led by senior guard Justin McCarthur (20 points, 7 assists, 5 turnovers), senior forward Dustin Sleva (18 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 6 turnovers) and Kellem (11 points). Sleva, the two-time PSAC East Athlete of the Year, finishes his career with 2,071 points and 1,140 rebounds, both in the top 10 in PSAC history.

The Warriors were previously regional runner-up twice, in 1990 and 2014, while Shippensburg was also playing for its first regional title in program history.

ESU entered third in the Atlantic Region in wins (now 197) over the last nine seasons, and is playing in the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time since 2010, and the sixth time in school history.

ESU's Elite Eight opponent will be announced either late Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.

ESU and Shippensburg split their two regular season meetings, both winning on their home floor.

The Warriors pulled out a 90-79 win on January 3, outscoring Ship 14-3 over the final four minutes - a similar stretch to Tuesday night's Atlantic Region title game.

Shippensburg's 89-64 win on January 31 - ESU's last loss before the 13-game winning streak - was tied for the Warriors' lowest output of the season.

Ship didn't trail in its first two regional wins, taking apart West Liberty 98-66 and No. 1 seed Virginia State 77-58, and opened the title game with an 8-3 stretch.

ESU answered with a 14-2 run, holding Ship without a field goal for almost nine minutes, and stayed in front of the rest of the first half to lead 34-31 on a driving layup by Jones with three seconds left.

Shippensburg started the second half with eight straight, including a three by McCarthur (27.0 ppg in first 2 regional games) and three-point play by Sleva, to lead 39-34, but the Warriors hung in against a squad ranked No. 8 in the NABC DII preseason poll after returning four starters from last year's 27-4 PSAC championship team.

Walls scored seven straight points for ESU, answering a couple of Ship buckets, and tied the game at 53-all with a three with 11:41 remaining.

Harris and Williams scored for a 7-0 run and a 57-53 lead, and Sleva drilled a three to get it to one with 9:30 left, before seven more for the Warriors - a Krawczeniuk three sandwiched around two baskets by Williams - for a 14-3 run and a 64-56 margin with 8:00 left.

It was Ship's turn to respond with a 9-0 run, getting seven points from the foul line, including three free throws by senior guard Clay Conner (9 points), and a layup by John Castello (4 points) gave the Raiders a 65-64 lead with just under six minutes on the clock.

Walls put ESU ahead with his second three of the second half, and Conner tied it for the final time with two free throws at the 4:33 mark.

From there, Harris put the Warriors on his back with six points down the stretch, part of a 13-point second half, to carry ESU to its first-ever regional title.

Harris scored nine of ESU's final 13 points in the last four minutes in Saturday's first-round win vs. Gannon, en route to 22 points. He had 10 of his 15 points in the second half of the second-round win vs. West Chester on Sunday.

Overall, Harris scored 36 of his 52 points in the second half in the regional - shooting 14-for-19 after the break - while averaging 6.7 rebounds per game.

Nwandu (13.0 ppg) and Jones (12.3 ppg) scored double figures in all three games over the weekend, with all 10 Warriors in the regular rotation contributing.

Krawczeniuk (9.0 ppg), Williams (8.3) and Rodriguez (6.3) all came off the bench. Junior guard Nick Giordano, ESU's third-leading scorer who didn't score in the final, averaged 5.7, followed by Wise (5.3), Walls (4.0) and sophomore guard Montrel Morgan (2.7).

Walls, who missed four games late in the season due to injury before making major contributions in the run to the PSAC title, had 12 points in the regional title game after not scoring in the first two games.

ESU shot 48.4 percent (31-for-64) on Tuesday night, 6-for-19 from three, including 59.4 percent (19-for-32) and 4-for-8 from long distance in the second half.  The Warriors were also 16-for-18 at the foul line and 61-for-75 (81.3 percent) in the regional.

Shippensburg shot 44.4 percent (24-for-54) overall but just 41.9 percent (13-for-31) in the second half. The PSAC leader in three-pointers per game (10.6) and third in percentage (37.7) was 6-for-21 from long range. Ship was also 18-for-22 at the foul line.

ESU had a 12-9 advantage in turnovers, including 7-1 in the first half. The Warriors' nine turnovers are tied for their fewest this season.


GAME NOTES
* ESU 2nd-half runs on the way to the regional title:
18-3 spanning halftime (13-3 to open 2nd half) vs Gannon
13-2 to start 2nd half vs West Chester
17-5 to finish game vs Shippensburg

* ESU's 27 wins are the 2nd-most in school history:
30-2 - 2013-14
27-5 - 2017-18
24-6 - 2009-10

* ESU is making its 6th NCAA DII Tournament appearance in program history, and 5th in the last 9 years:
1990 (regional runner-up), 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014 (regional runner-up), 2018 (regional champ)

* ESU's 5 NCAA Tournament appearances since 2010 are tied for 3rd-most in the Atlantic Region:
9 - West Liberty
7 - IUP
5 - ESU, Fairmont State

* ESU ranks 3rd in the Atlantic Region in wins in the last 9 years:
272 - West Liberty
234 - IUP
197 - ESU

* First All-PSAC match-up in Atlantic Region final since 2008 and 2009
2008 - California 64, Millersville 52
2009 - Gannon 84, Kutztown 73
2018 - ESU 84, Shippensburg 72

ESU NCAA REGIONAL CHAMPIONS
1971 - Men's Tennis
1972 - Men's Soccer
1973 - Men's Soccer
1997 - Men's Soccer
2000 - Men's Soccer
2001 - Field Hockey
2002 - Men's Soccer
2005 - Football
2015 - Field Hockey
2015 - Women's Soccer
2018 - Men's Basketball