Box Score / Archived Telecast on ESU Warriors "All Access"

EAST STROUDSBURG – Senior forward Mike Tobin scored the game's final four points in the last 1:05 of overtime and came up with a key steal with five seconds left as East Stroudsburg University earned a 78-75 (OT) win vs. Cheyney on Wednesday night at Koehler Fieldhouse.

The PSAC East favorites improved to 8-5 with the win in their conference opener and helped head coach Jeff Wilson post his 133rd career victory, tying Sal Mentesana for third in school history. Wilson was an assistant coach under Mentesana for all nine of his seasons from 1987-96, including the Warriors' only PSAC championship in 1989-90, and is 133-101 in his ninth season as head coach at ESU. Mentesana was 133-117 in his tenure on the ESU bench.

While the Warriors built a 13-point lead with 16 minutes to play, Cheyney (10-3) came back behind David Burton, who scored 14 of his 23 points in the second half and ultimately hit the game-tying jumper as time expired in regulation to send the game to overtime.

ESU outscored the Wolves 10-7 in the last five minutes and received key contributions from Tobin and sophomore forwards Terrance King and Duane Johnson in the extra session to beat Cheyney for the fourth straight time. The Warriors won all three meetings last year, including a 76-65 win in the PSAC quarterfinals, and are now 6-5 in the last 11 meetings with seven games decided by four points or less.

Tobin gave the Warriors the lead for good (77-75) with an off-balance jumper with 34 seconds left before cutting in front of Burton for a steal with five seconds to play. He was immediately fouled and was 1-for-2 at the line, making his first free throw, and Burton didn't get a good look at the game-tying three-pointer from 30 feet as final buzzer sounded.

The lead changed hands six times in overtime and neither team led by more than two points until the last five seconds. Johnson drove for a bucket and had a dunk on an offensive rebound and King scored on an assist from Tobin for the Warriors' first six points. Tobin split a pair at the line after a defensive rebound with 1:05 left to tie the score at 75-75, and Johnson came away with a huge offensive board to set up the possession that ended with Tobin's driving one-hander for the go-ahead points.

On Cheyney's final possession, King blocked a jumper by Burton and Tobin, the PSAC's leader in steals per game, had the final key defensive play as Rob Townsend tried to get the ball to Burton in the paint.

King willed the Warriors into the overtime period after Cheyney came all the way back from a 45-32 deficit to go ahead 66-63 with 2:11 remaining. Most of the Wolves comeback came without the services of Sharif Bray, the PSAC's second-leading scorer, who scored 18 points but just six in the second half as he was limited by foul trouble before fouling out with 2:57 left in regulation.

King had five points, a defensive rebound and two blocks in the final 1:12 of the second half, tying the game on a three-point play and hitting the go-ahead basket with 28 seconds left. He had a huge rejection on a shot by Antonio Boyd in the closing seconds, but the ball went out of bounds with 0.6 seconds left on the clock. After a timeout by each team, Burton hit a fadeaway baseline jumper that was reviewed and ultimately upheld after the officials looked at the replay of Blue Ridge TV-13's feed of the game.

Senior guard Micah Covert led another balanced scoring effort for the Warriors. The tri-captain was 5-for-6 from long distance and scored a season-high 17 points, including triples on back-to-back possessions which gave ESU its 13-point lead with 16:34 on the clock in the second half.

King had 15 points, four rebounds and five blocks, Tobin had 14 points, eight rebounds and four assists and Johnson produced 13 points, four rebounds and four steals. Sophomore forward Marcus Brown scored eight points off the bench. King's five blocks tied his career-high and give him 72 blocks in his first 43 career games for the Warriors.

Burton (23 points, 12 rebounds), Bray (18 points), Amarildo Matos (11 points), Boyd (nine points, 12 rebounds), Rob Townsend (nine points) and Bruce Kennedy (five points) did all of the scoring for Cheyney and played all but nine of a total of 225 minutes in the contest.

Both teams took care of the basketball, especially in the second half and overtime, when they turned it over five times apiece over the final 25 minutes. ESU had 12 turnovers and shot 49.1 percent from the field, while Cheyney had 11 turnovers and shot 40.9 percent. The Wolves held a 41-36 rebounding advantage, including 16-12 on the offensive end, after ranking last in the PSAC with 9.0 offensive boards per game during non-conference play.

The Warriors face a tough stretch over the next week and a half as they defend their share of last season's PSAC East regular season title, their first since 1992. ESU's first four conference opponents were picked second through fifth in the PSAC East preseason poll and face the next three on the road – West Chester on Saturday, Mansfield next Wednesday and Kutztown the following Saturday. All three schools received first place votes from the conference's coaches.