Box Score

WEST CHESTER – Mike DeMarco scored a season-high 19 points, Andy Heimbach netted 18 and Mike Tobin had 12 points and nine rebounds to lead East Stroudsburg University to an 88-74 win at West Chester to give the Warriors a share of the PSAC East regular season championship and tie the school record with their 23rd win of the season.

ESU led by double figures for nearly the entire second half and was 35-for-39 (.897) from the foul line to improve to 23-4, tying the 1972-73 team for the most wins in school history. Heimbach was 4-for-7 from the three-point line, giving him the school record with 68 three's this season. Robby Pines had six points and six assists and is fourth with 171 assists in a season.

The Warriors won the PSAC East regular season title for the first time since 1991-92 after being picked sixth in the conference in the preseason coaches poll. They went 10-4 in conference play, tied with Mansfield, who holds the tiebreaker and will be the division's top seed in next week's conference tournament

ESU hosts Cheyney (16-11, 9-5) in the first round of the PSAC playoffs on Tuesday night at 7 p.m., while Mansfield (19-8, 10-4) hosts Kutztown (21-6, 8-6) in the other quarterfinal. Mansfield earned the top seed with a 76-68 win at Millersville, Kutztown beat Bloomsburg 75-68 and Shippensburg won 73-71 at Cheyney in other action around the division on Saturday.

The highest seed remaining in the PSAC East will host the conference's semifinals and finals next Friday and Saturday. Top seed IUP hosts Gannon and Clarion hosts Mercyhurst in the western division quarterfinals.

The Warriors won both games against Cheyney this year, 77-73 at Cheyney on January 23 and 63-55 (OT) at home last Saturday, to sweep the season series for the first time since 1997-98.

ESU will be making its 11th appearance in the PSAC playoffs and fourth in the last five years under eighth-year head coach Jeff Wilson, a 1986 ESU graduate and an assistant coach for nine years from 1986-95. ESU's last home game in the PSAC playoffs came in 1998.

The Warriors used a 9-0 run late in the first half to take a 41-32 lead at halftime and extended their advantage to 18 (57-39) five minutes into the second half. West Chester pulled within 69-61 on a three-pointer by forward Ralph Hegamin (21 points) with 6:11 remaining before Tobin hit two free throws and Heimbach drilled a three-pointer to tie the school record on the next possession to put ESU ahead by 13.

Heimbach hit two free throws, then broke the record with his 68th triple of the year to give ESU an 18-point lead (79-61) with less than four minutes left. Juwan Justice set the previous record of 67 in 1999-00. Heimbach hit 43 three's as a freshman, 65 as a sophomore and 52 last season and is a career 36.5 percent shooter from behind the arc. He also went 4-for-4 at the foul line and is shooting 85.2 percent (46-for-54) this year.

ESU led the PSAC in free throw percentage for much of the season and was lights out on Saturday, going 19-for-22 in the first half and 16-for-17 in the second half. Pines, Duane Johnson and Eric Bryan were all 6-for-6, DeMarco was 5-for-5 and Tobin made 5-of-6.

Eight Warriors scored at least six points each, with Micah Covert contributing 10 points off the bench to join the three starters in double figures. Johnson scored nine, Bryan had eight and Pines and Terrance King had six each.

ESU also held a 37-30 advantage on the glass and held the Golden Rams to a 4-for-14 effort from the three-point line. West Chester made just 50 percent of its free throws, going 16-for-32, while both teams shot 45.8 percent from the field.

More information on Tuesday's first round playoff game vs. Cheyney will be announced on esuwarriors.com this weekend.