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Game Notes / Media Guide / Season and Career Highs

EAST STROUDSBURG – East Stroudsburg University earned a share of its first PSAC East regular season championship since 1991-92 with a win at West Chester on Saturday and will open the PSAC Men's Basketball Championship with a quarterfinal game against Cheyney on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at Koehler Fieldhouse.

The Warriors (23-4, 10-4), picked sixth in the PSAC East preseason poll, tied the 1972-73 team for the most wins in school history and host Cheyney (16-11, 9-5) at Koehler Fieldhouse for the second time in 10 days.

They will be making their fourth appearance in the PSAC tournament in the last five years after earning postseason berths in 2006, 2007 and 2008, and will look for their first postseason win since 1991. ESU won its only PSAC championship and made the only NCAA tournament appearance in school history in 1989-90.

Ticket prices are set by the conference at $7 for adults and $2 for students, with students from PSAC institutions receiving free admission with a valid student ID. No complimentary passes will be accepted except for official PSAC passes.

Mansfield (19-8, 10-4) is the PSAC East's No. 1 seed and hosts Kutztown (21-6, 8-6) in the other quarterfinal. IUP (25-2, 13-1) plays Gannon (13-14, 8-6) and Clarion (17-10, 9-5) takes on Mercyhurst (18-9, 8-6) on Tuesday night in the western division. The top seed remaining in the PSAC East will host the semifinals and finals on Friday and Saturday.

The PSAC champion will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament, one of eight teams representing the Atlantic Region. ESU has been ranked in the region in every poll this year, rising as high as No. 2 on February 10, and is currently at No. 5. The next set of rankings will be released on Wednesday and include games through this Sunday.

ESU swept the season series vs. Cheyney for the first time since 1997-98, winning 77-73 at Cheyney on January 23 and 63-55 (OT) last Saturday. The Warriors used a 9-0 run late in the game in the first meeting to pull away, while Cheyney rallied from a 16-point deficit to force overtime before ESU held a 14-6 advantage in the extra session.

Junior forward Mike Tobin led the Warriors with 13.5 points per game in the first two meetings, including 17 points and nine rebounds last week, and is averaging 14 points and 10 boards over the last three games. Tobin was the team's leading scorer (11.6 ppg) and rebounder (7.4 rpg) during the PSAC East schedule while shooting 53.3 percent from the floor and has posted 10.3 points and 7.2 rebounds for the season.

Tobin and senior guards Robby Pines and Andy Heimbach are the only three Warriors averaging at least 24 minutes per game during the season on a team that has gone 11 players deep under head coach Jeff Wilson. Nine players average at least 17 minutes and 5.7 points per game during conference play.

Pines leads the PSAC with 6.3 assists per game, ranks second in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.3), third in steals (2.3) and fourth in free throw percentage (78.6) in his only season as a full-time starter and has been on the floor for 35 minutes per game vs. the PSAC East. He is also fourth on the team with 8.2 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.

Heimbach is ESU's leading scorer with 12.8 points per game and holds school records for single season (68) and career (228) three-pointers. The senior has 1,120 career points and went over the 1,000-point mark with a team-high 11 points at Cheyney last month.

Junior guard Mike DeMarco and freshman forward Terrance King round out the starting five. DeMarco scored a season-high 19 points in ESU's 88-74 win at West Chester on Saturday and is scoring 7.7 points per game while shooting 35 percent from the three-point line and 77 percent at the foul line. All four of the Warriors' top guards – Pines, Heimbach, DeMarco and junior Micah Covert (7.9 ppg) – shoot at least 77 percent from the line, part of the PSAC's second-best team in free throw percentage at 71.6.

King has been the top freshman in the PSAC and is one of three freshmen who have made major contributions for the Warriors this year. A five-time PSAC East Freshman of the Week, King leads all PSAC freshmen in scoring (8.8 ppg), field goal percentage (56.2) and blocked shots (1.4 per game) and is third in school history in blocks by a freshman with 39.

Duane Johnson and Marcus Brown have given ESU significant minutes off the bench all season. Johnson has averaged 7.3 points and 3.7 rebounds, including a career-high nine boards at Cheyney, and is one of the Warriors' top perimeter defenders. Brown (7.0 ppg) is second on the team in rebounding with 5.1 per game and has 53 offensive rebounds, one of the top rates in the conference.

Sophomore Eric Bryan has teamed with King to solidify the center position for the Warriors, posting averages of 5.2 points and 3.8 rebounds per game while blocking 16 shots. He is shooting 84.1 percent from the foul line (37-for-44) and combined with King for 22 points and 16 rebounds in ESU's last home game, a 78-54 win over Millersville last Wednesday.

ESU enters the PSAC playoffs on a three-game winning streak, beginning with last Saturday's win over Cheyney, to earn a share of the PSAC East regular season title. The Warriors suffered their first loss of the season, 87-84 at then-No. 3 Kutztown in their conference opener on January 13, before rattling off six straight wins.

They lost three of their next five before righting the ship against Cheyney, which was first in the division, and beating Millersville and West Chester to finish the regular season.