EAST STROUDSBURG – East Stroudsburg University will look to secure its fourth trip to the PSAC men's basketball postseason in the last five years and will honor six seniors, three each on both the men's and women's teams, when the Warriors host Millersville on Wednesday night at Koehler Fieldhouse.
Guards
Andy Heimbach and
Robby Pines and forward
Preston Ritter have helped the ESU men to a 21-4 record and a share of the lead in the PSAC East entering their Senior Night game against the Marauders.
For the women, guard Mel Villano, forward
DeAnna Rayam and center Alexa Detzi will play their final home game at Koehler Fieldhouse as they wind down careers that began at Freedom High School in Bethlehem when the first game of the doubleheader tips off at 6 p.m.
Rayam became the 13th 1,000-point scorer in ESU women's basketball history last week and leads the Warriors in scoring (14.6 ppg), rebounding (6.1 rpg) and assists (62) as a senior. Villano has started 104 career games in the backcourt and is averaging a career-best 7.8 points per game, and Detzi has been a two-year starter at center and is seventh in school history with 46 career blocked shots, including 27 this season.
The Warriors' men's program has put together one of the top seasons in school history and would put itself in position to play for one of the PSAC East's top two spots and a home game in the quarterfinals with a win on Wednesday night. They finish the regular season with a 4 p.m. tip-off at West Chester on Saturday.
ESU won the first meeting with Millersville, 72-63, on February 3 to improve to 19-1 for the best 20-game start in school history. Heimbach scored 18 points, including consecutive three-pointers in a 15-0 run in the first half, and holds ESU's career record with 222 three's. He ranks 16th with 1,091 career points and is five three-pointers away from tying the school record with 67 in a season.
Pines leads the PSAC with 6.2 assists per game and is second with 2.4 steals, part of a senior season that has seen him rank in the top 10 in Division II in assists per game for nearly the entire year. He made three starts as a junior, ranking sixth in the nation with a 3.0 assist-to-turnover ratio, and has been the Warriors' most valuable player since taking over as the starting point guard for a team that was ranked in the top 25 for six straight weeks.
Ritter has been part of ESU's rotation for most of the season and has appeared in 20 games off the bench, contributing 35 points, 37 rebounds (18 offensive) and nine blocked shots.
ESU has made 10 appearances in the PSAC tournament, including three straight trips from 2006-2008 before missing by one game last year. The 1989-90 team won the only PSAC championship and made the only NCAA Division II tournament appearance in school history, while this year's Warriors have been ranked in the Atlantic Region each week since the first set of rankings were released last month.