Box Score

MANSFIELD – Junior guard Gerald Bridges, Jr. and freshman guard Matt Tobin combined for 27 points off the bench as East Stroudsburg University held off Mansfield for an 82-77 win, its first at Decker Gymnasium since 2007, in PSAC East men's basketball on Wednesday night.

Bridges tied his career-high with 14 points and Tobin had 13 as the Warriors' bench players produced 37 points. Freshman guard Whis Grant scored 14 points and junior forward Duane Johnson added 10 to give ESU four players in double figures, and senior forward Eric Bryan (six points) tied his career-high with 11 rebounds as the Warriors (15-8, 11-6 PSAC) won their fourth straight game and sealed their seventh straight season with at least 15 victories.

ESU's win, coupled with West Chester's 103-88 win over Kutztown, puts ESU in a tie with Kutztown for second in the PSAC East. The Warriors won 93-86 in double-overtime at Kutztown on Saturday. Both schools are one game behind Bloomsburg, which beat Shippensburg 75-54.

Joe Bell, a five-time PSAC East Freshman of the Week, scored 26 points – 22 in the second half – to lead Mansfield (7-14, 4-13), which cut into a 13-point ESU lead with a 15-5 run to make it 51-48 with 12 minutes left.

The Warriors responded with an 11-2 stretch to push their lead back to double-figures, and held off every Mansfield threat over the last six minutes. ESU was 7-for-12 at the foul line in the last two minutes but got two free throws from Grant with 48.0 seconds left after Mansfield got within five.

Bridges and Tobin were red-hot from the three-point line to start the game, with both making three triples in the first nine minutes as ESU opened 6-for-9 from long distance. All six three's came within a five-minute stretch, capped by two straight from Tobin that put the Warriors ahead, 25-11, with 11 minutes left in the half to put the icing on an 18-2 run.

Mansfield didn't closer than six for the rest of the half as ESU led 35-27 at the break. Things opened up in the second half as Mansfield won the period, 50-47, and shot 60.7 percent from the field. ESU shot 42.4 percent but had 13 offensive rebounds and went 17-for-29 at the foul line in the last 20 minutes.

The Warriors' bench outscored Mansfield, 24-8, in the first half and 37-10 for the game, as Bridges was 4-for-8 from the three-point line and Tobin was 3-for-5. ESU was 8-for-18 from long distance overall.

ESU had advantages of 17-10 in turnovers and 40-34 in rebounds, which it turned into a 17-10 edge in points off turnovers and a 19-10 margin in second-chance points.

Eight players scored at least six points for the Warriors, who are averaging 89.0 points per game during their four-game winning streak, their longest of the season. Junior forward Terrance King had eight points and eight rebounds, senior guard Russell Graham III had seven games and six assists, Bryan had six points and 11 rebounds and freshman forward Lamont Tillery had six points to join the four players in double figures.

ESU hosts Shippensburg on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Koehler Fieldhouse looking to maintain at least a tie for second in the PSAC East. The Warriors won 69-64 at Shippensburg on January 21.

GAME NOTES
* ESU has won at least 16 games in each of the last six seasons, a mark it can equal on Saturday. The Warriors are 123-69 (.641) since the start of the 2005-06 season and have played in the PSAC Tournament five times in the last six years.
* ESU had 14 seasons of at least 15 wins in its first 78 years of varsity basketball. The Warriors went seven seasons (from 1998-99 to 2004-05) without reaching 15 wins before their current stretch.
* ESU improves to 3-7 at Mansfield under head coach Jeff Wilson with its first win since an 87-79 (OT) victory in 2007. The Warriors swept the series for just the fourth time in the last 19 years – 1996, 1998, 2007 and 2012.

* Five players are averaging double-figures during the four-game winning streak – Johnson (16.5), Tobin (16.5), Grant (16.0), Graham (10.8) and King (10.3). Bridges is averaging 7.8 and Bryan is at 7.5.
* ESU is shooting 48.0 percent overall and 51.5 percent (34-for-66) from the three-point line over the last four games.
* Three of the last four wins have been on the road. ESU opened the stretch with a 94-82 win over West Chester, followed by wins at Cheyney (87-73), Kutztown (93-86, 2OT) and Mansfield (82-77).
* The last time ESU scored 80+ points in four straight games was the 1993-94 season, when the Warriors had a five-game stretch late in the season and a run of 11 in 12 games (including eight straight) to start the year. ESU scored 80+ in 19 of its 25 games that season.

* Grant (320 points) and Tobin (194) have combined for 514 points as freshmen this season. Grant's total is fourth-most by a freshman in school history. His 44 three-pointers are four behind Will Brown's freshman record which he set last season.