Box Score

BLOOMSBURG - Sophomore guard Whis Grant scored 22 points to lead three double-figure scorers and No. 20-ranked East Stroudsburg University forced 27 turnovers, leading the Warriors to a 77-68 win at Bloomsburg and their 10th straight victory on Wednesday night at Nelson Field House.

ESU (16-2, 13-1), in the midst of its longest PSAC winning streak in 70 years, recorded its 10th straight PSAC road win by holding off the Huskies (5-13, 3-11), who closed a 17-point first-half lead to one (59-58) with seven minutes left.

The Warriors responded with a 13-2 run - including five from senior forward Terrance King and three-pointers by senior forwards Duane Johnson and Gerald Bridges - to pull away.

King had 14 points, six rebounds and three blocks and Johnson added 12 points, nine rebounds, four assists and four steals as the Warriors' three seniors improved to 76-32 in their careers, tying the school record for wins in a four-year span. ESU improved to 30-5 when Johnson and King both reach 10 points - including 20-2 in the last two years.

The Warriors set up a rematch of last year's PSAC championship game on Saturday at West Chester. ESU prevailed, 90-85, at Hollinger Field House last March for the second PSAC championship in school history.

ESU played its first game with a national ranking since February 20, 2010 and opened with a 13-2 run. The Warriors led by as many as 17 points (33-16) with eight minutes left in the first half and held a 41-30 halftime advantage. They had won their last six games by double figures.

Junior forward Zechariah Runkle added nine points, four rebounds and three steals and sophomore guard Matt Tobin had seven points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals in a career-high 37 minutes to round out Johnson, King and Grant in the starting five. Sophomore forward Lamont Tillery had six points and Bridges added five off the bench.

Grant continued his torrid scoring pace, going over 17 points for the seventh straight game with 158 total points (22.6 ppg) during that stretch. He had his sixth 20-point game of the season and the 11th of his career. He also had six assists to tie a season-high.

The Warriors' defensive effort produced 16 steals - their most since grabbing 17 in a 72-63 win over Bloomsburg in the 2003-04 season - and led to a 30-16 advantage in points off turnovers.

Bloomsburg used a 9-0 run to cut a 59-49 ESU lead to a single point, but the Warriors never allowed the Huskies to take the lead.

King scored the next five points, on a layup and a three-point play, to give ESU a 64-58 lead. Dontahe Jordan (14 points), returning from a six-game suspension, brought Bloomsburg within four, but Johnson and Bridges drilled back-to-back three's and suddenly the lead was 72-60 with just over two minutes left.

Grant, Tobin and Johnson closed out the game at the free throw line as the Warriors shot 20-for-28 (71.4 percent) from the line. They were 14-for-16 in the first half.

Bloomsburg had a better field goal percentage (43.9 to 39.1) and both teams hit seven three-pointers, but ESU made nine more free throws (20-11) and the Warriors held a +13 advantage in turnovers - the 11th straight game they have forced more turnovers than their opponents.

Zach Sheetz scored 15 points, all in the second half, to lead Bloomsburg, followed by Jordan (14), Nasir Jones (9 points, 6 rebounds) and Wes Lyons (9 points).

West Chester enters Saturday's game at 13-5 (11-3), two games behind ESU in the PSAC East, in the first of two meetings between the two schools. The Warriors host the Golden Rams on Saturday, February 23. WCU has won three straight and eight of its last nine games, including a 79-71 win over Cheyney on Wednesday.

Millersville (14-6, 10-4) is firmly in third place after holding off Shippensburg for a 63-62 road win. Cheyney (8-10, 6-8) is ineligible for postseason play and is followed by Bloomsburg (5-13, 3-11), Mansfield (5-13, 3-11), Kutztown (4-16, 3-11) and Shippensburg (4-14, 2-12). The top six teams (excluding Cheyney) will qualify for the PSAC Tournament.


GAME NOTES
* ESU moved into the NABC Division II poll for the third time in school history on Tuesday. The Warriors were ranked for 6 straight weeks and as high as No. 12 in 2009-10, and for one week in 1991-92.

* Seniors Gerald Bridges, Duane Johnson and Terrance King have a 76-32 record in their careers at ESU.
* The 2006-10 seniors (Andy Heimbach, Robby Pines) and 2008-12 senior (Eric Bryan) also had 76 wins in their four years.

* Johnson and King match Heimbach as the Warriors who have played in the most wins in school history (76). Heimbach was a senior and Johnson and King were freshman on the 2009-10 team that had a school-record 24 victories.
* Johnson has also played the most career minutes by an ESU player since at least 1990 (2,942).

* ESU has only had three longer winning streaks vs. PSAC schools than its current 10-game stretch -- 15 from 1940-41 through 41-42; 11 from 1941-42 through 42-43; and 11 from 1926-27 through 27-28.
* The Warriors won 9 straight during the 2007-08 season.

* Wednesday's win came at the site of the Warriors' last PSAC road loss - 80-78 (OT) at Bloomsburg on February 22 last year in the last week of the regular season.
* ESU is 8-0 on the road in PSAC games this season, and has won 10 straight including wins at Kutztown (quarterfinal) and West Chester (final) in last year's PSAC Tournament.

* ESU's 10 straight PSAC road wins are the most in school history.
* ESU's 8-game road winning streak (overall) is tied for the 2nd-longest in school history. The Warriors also won 8 straight on the road in the 1931-32 through 1932-33 seasons, and 1941-42 through 1942-43 seasons. The school record of 10 straight came in the first 10 road games in the history of the program - 1926-27 through 1927-28.

* ESU's 10-game winning streak is its 6th in the last 70 years. Other streaks came in 2009-10 (13), 2007-08 (13), 1972-73 (10), 1971-72 (10) and 1954-55 (10).

* ESU hasn't trailed in a game since the 1st half of an 81-62 win at Kutztown on January 19 (took lead with 10 minutes left in half) - a span of 150 minutes.
* ESU hasn't trailed in the 2nd half since the 15-minute mark of an 84-72 win at Slippery Rock on January 11 - a span of 135 minutes.