Box Score

MANSFIELD - PSAC East Player of the Week Whis Grant scored 19 of his 25 points in the first half and East Stroudsburg University tied a school record with its eighth straight PSAC road win, blitzing Mansfield for a 93-69 victory on Wednesday night at Decker Gymnasium.

The Warriors (12-2, 9-1), the defending PSAC champions, continued their best-ever start to PSAC play by shooting 56.5 percent from the field and putting four players in double figures to push their winning streak to six games. ESU has won 10 of 11 overall.

ESU last won eight straight road games vs. conference schools from 1939-40 through 41-42, and can set a new mark Saturday at Kutztown. ESU is 6-0 in PSAC road games this year and won its last two a year ago - 99-91 (OT) at Kutztown in the PSAC quarterfinals and 90-85 at West Chester in the PSAC championship game.

Grant, who averaged 28.5 points in wins at Slippery Rock and Edinboro last weekend, scored 14 points in a stretch of 3:42 - part of a 25-4 run that put the Warriors up 34-14 with just over five minutes left in the first half. He was 8-for-11 from the field and 4-for-6 from the three-point line, including 6-for-8 (3-for-4 from 3) in the first half.

Senior forward Terrance King scored 13 points, redshirt sophomore guard Muhamadou Kaba set a career-high with 11 and senior forward Duane Johnson added 10 for the Warriors.

Junior forward Zechariah Runkle tied his career-high with nine points and had a career-best 13 rebounds in his first career start, replacing senior forward Gerald Bridges due to injury. Sophomore forward Lamont Tillery also scored nine points and sophomore guard Matt Tobin had six points and a career-high nine assists.

Joe Bell had 21 points to lead Mansfield (5-9, 3-7), Charles Becoats and Chuck Harper scored 12 each and Onyema Utti added 10. The Mounties were coming off home wins over Clarion (77-73) and Lock Haven (82-78).

Grant has scored 82 points in his last three games, the second-most by an ESU player in a three-game stretch under 11th-year head coach Jeff Wilson. Grant scored 28 (23 in the second half) at Slippery Rock, 29 (21 in the first half) at Edinboro and 25 (19 in the first half) at Mansfield.

Mansfield led 10-9 at the 14-minute mark of the first half before the Warriors put the game away early. Grant had eight points, including two three's, in a 14-0 run, then had another six as the Warriors stretched the run to 25-4 over an eight-minute span. ESU led 34-14 with 5:27 left in the first half and 48-29 at halftime.

In the second half, ESU stretched the lead to 30 points (67-37) with 13 minutes to go, 35 (74-39) three minutes later, and held its largest lead at 36 (87-51) with five minutes to play.

The Warriors shot 35-for-62 from the field and had 21 assists, including nine by Tobin and five by Grant. They were 8-for-18 from the three-point line with Runkle, Tobin, Tillery and Kaba also hitting from three.

ESU also outrebounded Mansfield by 20, 45-25, and had 19 offensive rebounds.

ESU, ranked fifth among others receiving votes in this week's NABC Division II Top 25 poll, travels to Kutztown's Keystone Arena on Saturday. Kutztown (3-13, 2-8) fell 73-59 at West Chester on Wednesday. West Chester (10-4, 8-2), one game behind ESU in the PSAC East, has won five straight.


GAME NOTES
* Grant had his 10th career 20-point game, 5th of the season and 3rd straight. He has scored 10+ points in 36 of 45 career games for the Warriors.
* Grant entered the night as the PSAC leader in 3-point percentage at 44.8 (30-for-67). He is now at 46.6 (34-for-73) after going 4-for-6.
* He is 24-for-44 from the field (.545), 12-for-23 from 3 (.522) and 22-for-26 at the foul line (.846) in the last 3 games, scoring 82 points.

* Wayne Bishop scored 96 points in a three-game stretch in 2002-03, Wilson's first season - 23 vs. Bridgewater, 29 vs. Felician and 44 vs. Shippensburg. He scored 25 points vs. Malone in the first game of the season.  His 121 points in a four-game stretch are also the most by a Warrior under Wilson.
* Rich Baker scored 81 points in a three-game stretch in 2003-04, Wilson's second season. He had 33 vs. West Chester, 23 at Columbia Union and 25 at Kutztown.

* Grant is the only Warrior with three straight 25-point games under Wilson - 28 at Slippery Rock, 29 at Edinboro and 25 at Mansfield - all on the road.

* Johnson had a 3-game stretch of 20-point games earlier this year, the first since Baker in 2003-04. He had 21 at Shepherd, 20 at University of the Sciences and 20 vs. PSU-Lehigh Valley in the 2nd through 4th games of the season.

* Johnson moved into 16th on ESU's career scoring list with 1147 points, surpassing Todd Painton (1144 - 1988-92). Painton was inducted to the ESU Athletic Hall of Fame in October.
* Johnson moved into ESU's career top 10 with 76 blocks, tying Ronnie Little (1978-80). He moved to 7th with 129 career steals. Johnson and Jonathan Roberts - ESU's school record holder in both categories (218 steals, 213 blocks) - is the only other player in the top 10 in both categories.

* King ranks 15th in PSAC history (3rd in ESU history) with 158 career blocks. He is also 18th at ESU in scoring (1134) and 9th in rebounds (591).

* ESU has a margin of victory of 13.3 in its six-game winning streak - Clarion (75-51), IUP (57-55), California (70-62), at Slippery Rock (84-72), at Edinboro (85-75) and at Mansfield (93-69).

* With the win, ESU's all-time record is 969-970.  The last time the Warriors were .500 as a program was January 18, 1997.
* ESU was 52 games under .500 (796-848) when Wilson took over the program in 2002-03. They were 66 games under (829-895) after Wilson's third season - but are 65 games over (140-75) in the last 7+ years.