Box Score

EAST STROUDSBURG – Sophomore forwards Duane Johnson and Terrance King scored 14 and 13 points, respectively, and East Stroudsburg University shot 55 percent from the field to post a 73-58 win over Slippery Rock in a PSAC men's basketball crossover on Monday night at Koehler Fieldhouse.

ESU (6-3) extended its regular season home non-conference winning streak to 27 games entering Tuesday night's match-up with Mercyhurst in its final home non-conference game this season. The Lakers won 67-57 at Kutztown on Monday night.

King was 6-for-6 from the field and Johnson opened 7-for-9 for the Warriors, which shot 54.7 percent to rebound from a pair of losses at the Porreco Cup at Gannon last week. Sophomore forward Marcus Brown scored 11 points, senior guard Mike DeMarco had 10 and junior forward Eric Bryan had six points and nine rebounds.

Senior forward Mike Tobin had a strong all-around game with nine points, five rebounds, four assists and five steals and the Warriors had 11 steals on 21 Slippery Rock turnovers. Tobin leads the PSAC with 3.2 steals per game. King had four blocks and Johnson added two to contribute to ESU's seven blocked shots.

Jabril Bailey had 18 points and Devin Taylor added 14 for Slippery Rock (7-3), but the Rock shot just 35.6 percent. Bailey (6-for-18) and Maron Brown (nine points, 13 rebounds, 3-for-15) both average more than 16 points per game but combined to go 9-for-33.

The Warriors seized control of the game midway through the first half, going on a 15-2 run in just over four minutes to take a 21-14 lead at the eight-minute mark. Slippery Rock never got closer than four points the rest of the way, and was within single digits for just 25 seconds early in the second half before another spurt (10-2) pushed the margin to 17 with 15 minutes to play.

Tobin had four points, an offensive rebound, two assists and a steal to key the decisive first-half run, which was capped by a three-pointer by Marcus Brown on an assist from the unrelated Will Brown. Marcus Brown scored his 11 points in just nine minutes of action, while Will Brown had five points, two rebounds and two assists in 16 minutes after scoring 33 points in two games at the Porreco Cup.

ESU's lead hit double figures for the first time with 1:11 left in the first half when Tobin set up a dunk by Johnson, who was 6-for-8 in the first half for 12 points. The Warriors led 39-28 at intermission after DeMarco hit a jumper in the lane, and King scored the first two points of the second half before a brief 4-0 run by Slippery Rock on a jumper by Bailey and Maron Brown's first points of the day.

It was all Warriors from there, starting with a three-pointer by DeMarco, another three by sophomore guard Blair Ramsey (five points, four assists), and a dunk by King on an assist from Ramsey during the 10-2 run that made the score 51-34. ESU pushed the lead into the 20's with less than eight minutes left, and Ramsey set up another dunk by King for the Warriors' final points with 3:44 to play.

ESU put at least four players in double figures for the fifth time this season and have nine players averaging at least 6.8 points per game entering Tuesday night's showdown with Mercyhurst, which will bring an 8-1 record into Koehler Fieldhouse.

The Warriors are 1-1 against the Lakers but haven't met since the 1992-93 season. They improved to 11-3 and posted their fifth straight win in their series vs. Slippery Rock.