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EAST STROUDSBURG – A year after traveling to Memorial Field House for its second NCAA Division II Tournament appearance in school history, the East Stroudsburg University men's basketball program will head back to IUP for this weekend's PSAC Final Four and a second straight semifinal match-up with the Crimson Hawks on Friday night.

ESU and IUP, the preseason favorites in the PSAC's Eastern and Western divisions, will meet in the second semifinal 30 minutes after the conclusion of the night's first game between Cheyney (19-8) and Slippery Rock (20-9), scheduled for 5:30 p.m. The championship game will be played on Saturday at 7 p.m. with the winner earning the PSAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Warriors made the trek to western Pennsylvania last season after being selected to the NCAA Tournament field with an at-large bid, part of a record-setting 24-6 campaign that concluded with an 89-79 first round loss to West Virginia State.

This year, ESU heads to Memorial for a rematch of IUP's 67-63 win in last year's PSAC semifinals. The Crimson Hawks (22-5), the defending PSAC champion and runner-up in Division II, also won this season's meeting, 78-72, on January 8. IUP was the only home team to win in the quarterfinals on Tuesday with a 73-68 win over California and is 13-1 at home this season. IUP has won six PSAC titles, including four since 2000.

ESU (16-11) advanced to the semifinals for the second straight year and the fifth time in school history with an 83-70 win at Kutztown on Tuesday night, its first PSAC tournament road win since 1990 and just the second all-time. A victory over IUP would give the Warriors their second trip to the PSAC championship game as they seek a title to go with the 1989-90 PSAC champion and NCAA Tournament team.

Head coach Jeff Wilson, 141-107 in his ninth season on the ESU bench, was an assistant coach on the 1989-90 team and passed his former boss Sal Mentesana for third in career victories earlier this season. Wilson has led the Warriors to a 108-60 record and five PSAC playoff appearances in the last six seasons, an average of 18 wins per year, and six straight years with at least 16 wins following the quarterfinal triumph at Kutztown.

The victory over the Golden Bears was led by a career night from sophomore forward Duane Johnson, who had a career-high 26 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and one steal as the Warriors extended their season-best winning streak to four games. He was 8-for-12 from the floor and 10-for-13 at the foul line, part of a 30-for-39 effort overall, as ESU made its final 15 free throws to seal the win.

Johnson had his fourth 20-point game of the season, all on the road, including a 23-point afternoon in the loss at IUP back in January. The loss came in the middle of a 4-7 stretch in the Warriors' first 11 games without point guard Russell Graham III, who has been out due to injury since the middle of December.

ESU has battled through adversity has emerged with a 7-3 record in its last 10 games since January 30. A season of comebacks (11 points in the final minute of an 88-86 OT win vs. Mercyhurst), blown leads (22 points with 12 minutes left in an 81-80 OT loss at Bloomsburg) and clutch shots (Will Brown's go-ahead 3-pointer in a 75-72 win at Cheyney) against one of the toughest schedules in the region prepared the Warriors for their playoff win at Kutztown on Tuesday.

The Warriors didn't have a player on the preseason All-PSAC East team despite being tabbed as the division favorite, but two players in particular have stepped into that role in Johnson and senior forward Mike Tobin.

Johnson leads ESU in scoring (12.7 ppg) and is second in rebounding (5.0 rpg) while Tobin is second in scoring (10.6 ppg) and first in rebounding (6.1 rpg) to give Wilson a versatile one-two tandem at the small forward and power forward positions. At least one of the Warriors' top two scorers have been in double figures in 23 of 27 games, and ESU is 6-3 when they both score at least 10 points.

They also rank first and second on the team in steals as the leaders of a pressing, trapping fullcourt defense. Tobin is second in the PSAC with 2.3 steals per game and has had at least one theft in 25 games, while Johnson has 39 steals along with 19 blocked shots.

Sophomore forward Terrance King, last year's PSAC East Freshman of the Year, is third in the PSAC with 2.0 blocks per game and already has 95 blocks in his career. He is averaging 10.2 points and 4.9 rebounds per game in just under 20 minutes. Junior forward Eric Bryan has produced 6.5 points and 4.4 rebounds in 19 minutes as the backup and had 12 points and seven rebounds in the win at Kutztown. Sophomore forward Marcus Brown backs up Tobin, King and Bryan and has put up 6.3 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.

In the backcourt, senior guards Micah Covert and Mike DeMarco have picked up where Graham's presence at point guard could have been sorely missed.

They have combined for 149 assists (DeMarco 75, Covert 74), with Covert checking in as the team's fourth-leading scorer with 8.6 points per game and DeMarco sixth with 6.8 per night. Covert has been in double figures in five of the last six games and is 28-for-35 at the foul line in that stretch. Sophomore guard Blair Ramsey (3.0 ppg, 59 assists) has also provided valuable minutes and has scored 19 points over the last two games.

Freshman guard Will Brown has given ESU a spark off the bench all season, beginning with a career-high 24 points against Seton Hill in his fifth career game in a tournament at Gannon. He has had five games with at least 15 points, ranks second in the PSAC in three-point percentage (46.4, 45-97) and is the Warriors' top bench scorer with 8.5 points per game. Sophomore guard Gerald Bridges, Jr. (2.5 ppg) has also been in the rotation and had four points and six rebounds at Kutztown.

IUP, 33-3 a year ago including a 65-53 loss to Cal Poly Pomona in the national championship game, brought back a number of key contributors from that team including preseason All-American Darryl Webb and guards Julian Sanders and Ashton Smith. The Crimson Hawks lead the PSAC in scoring defense (63.3) and turnover margin and rank second in rebounding margin.

Webb, IUP's all-time leading scorer (1,834) and rebounder (1,152), had 22 points and 17 rebounds in the first meeting this year and 16 points and 11 rebounds in last season's PSAC semifinal encounter. He has nearly averaged a double-double for his entire career at 15.3 points and 9.6 rebounds per game, including a career-high 17.0 points with 9.9 rebounds this season.

Sanders and Smith have stepped up in the absence of two of the top three scorers on last year's team in PSAC West Player of the Year Thomas Young (16.0 ppg) and Akida McClain (14.6 ppg, 7.6 rpg).

Sanders has bumped his scoring from 10.3 to 13.7 points per game and is third in the PSAC with 73 three-pointers while shooting at a 35.0 percent clip. Smith's increase is more dramatic, from 9.4 to 14.6 points per game. He went for 17 points against ESU in the PSAC semifinals last year and 20 in this year's meeting.

In the other semifinal, Cheyney and Slippery Rock both won on the road to move within one game of a PSAC championship game appearance. Cheyney has won a PSAC-best 15 conference titles but is looking for its first since 1986, while Slippery Rock has fallen in its last five title games since winning its only championship in 1963.

Cheyney moved on with a 77-75 win at Mansfield, which lost in the quarterfinals as the top seed in the PSAC East for the second straight year. Sharif Bray, the PSAC's leading scorer with 21.6 points per game, had 30 points including the game-winning free throws with two seconds left after the score was stuck on 75-75 for the final 3:30 of the contest. David Burton is in the top seven in the PSAC in scoring (17.0), rebounding (9.0) and assists (3.7) per game.

Slippery Rock, the PSAC leader in field goal percentage defense, held Mercyhurst to 14 second-half points in a 51-45 win over the Lakers on Tuesday night in Erie. Maron Brown is the PSAC's sixth-leading scorer (17.3 ppg) and No. 2 rebounder (10.5 rpg) and Jabril Bailey averages 14.8 points per game and had 22 points and 11 rebounds in the win over Mercyhurst, and the Rock averages a PSAC-high 15.6 offensive rebounds per game.

ESU swept the season series with Cheyney for the second straight year with a 78-75 overtime win at home and a 75-72 win on the road. The Warriors have won five straight against the Wolves, with three games decided by four points or less and another going to overtime, for the first time since 1960-63.

The Warriors opened their PSAC crossover schedule with a 73-58 win over Slippery Rock on January 3 at Koehler Fieldhouse and are 11-3 all-time against the Rock, including four postseason meetings. ESU is 5-1 against Slippery Rock under Wilson and the 1989-90 team earned overtime wins in both the PSAC semifinals and first round of the NCAA Tournament with Wilson on the bench alongside Sal Mentesana.