Box Score

EAST STROUDSBURG - West Chester held off East Stroudsburg University for a 71-65 win to drop the Warriors into a tie for third in the PSAC East with two games remaining on Saturday afternoon at Hollinger Fieldhouse.

ESU (16-10, 12-8), which clinched its sixth PSAC Tournament berth in seven years with an 80-69 win over Millersville on Wednesday, is tied with West Chester going into the final week of the regular season.

The two schools are one game behind Kutztown and Bloomsburg after Kutztown knocked off the first-place Huskies, 56-55, on a floater at the buzzer by Micah Fraction on Saturday afternoon.

ESU heads to Bloomsburg on Wednesday and hosts Cheyney on Saturday to finish the regular season. Bloomsburg hosts Millersville on Saturday, Kutztown hosts Mansfield and goes to Shippensburg, and West Chester host Cheyney and travels to Mansfield.

The Warriors, who fell behind 18-4 in the first 8:30, pulled within a single point three times in the second half but were never able to take the lead.

Freshman guard Whis Grant (15 points) and senior guard Russell Graham III (11 points, 7 assists) did all of their scoring in the second half for ESU, which trailed 30-24 at halftime. Junior forward Terrance King (13 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks) scored 11 points in the first half and senior forward Eric Bryan had seven in the first half but left due to injury.

Jaleel Mack scored 14 of his 19 points in the second half for West Chester, including seven straight after ESU got within 53-52 with 6:23 remaining. The Warriors had two possessions with a chance to take the lead, but Mack had a fast-break layup, jumper and three-pointer to stretch the advantage to eight.

ESU seemed to be out of it after a putback by Lance McDowell (17 points, 18 rebounds) put West Chester ahead 64-55 with 2:18 left, but got back in it with a trapping defense that forced five turnovers down the stretch.

The Warriors made up five points in an 18-second stretch, all at the foul line, which included two free throws by Grant after a West Chester technical foul, to get within 64-60 with 1:21 left. West Chester made 3-of-4 at the line to push it back to seven with 48.9 to play, but Graham drove for a layup, then junior forward Duane Johnson had a steal that led to a three-pointer by freshman guard Matt Tobin to close the margin to 67-65 with 25.0 seconds remaining.

Carl Johnson (17 points) knocked down two for West Chester with 16.1 seconds left, and Mack scored the final two points at the buzzer after the Warriors were unable to convert at the other end.

Tobin scored eight points in his second start of the season and Johnson had eight points and seven rebounds coming off the bench for the first time this year. Graham played a team-high 36 minutes, Johnson played 35, Grant played 30 and junior guard Gerald Bridges, Jr. was on the floor for 25 minutes as the Warriors were without backup point guard Blair Ramsey and didn't have Bryan for the second half.

GAME NOTES
* King moved into 3rd in school history with 132 career blocks, passing John Lehman (129, 1969-72).
* Grant has 355 points this season, 10 behind Dave Moyer (365, 1974-75) for second-most by a freshman in school history.
* Grant broke Eric Yankowy's record for free throws by a freshman with 80. Yankowy made 78 in 1985-86.
* Grant set the record for 3-pointers by a freshman on Wednesday vs. Millersville, going 5-for-6 from long distance and scoring 19 points in the PSAC Tournament-clinching win. Grant has made 49 3-pointers this season, one more than Will Brown's 48 last year. Brown has missed this season due to injury.