Box Score

KUTZTOWN - Junior guard Whis Grant scored 29 points, one off his career-high, as East Stroudsburg University overcame a slow start to improve to 6-0 (2-0 PSAC East) with an 83-70 win at Kutztown on Saturday afternoon at Keystone Arena.

Grant and freshman forward Rasheed Moore (14 points, seven rebounds) combined to score 34 of ESU's 36 points in one 15-minute stretch, and junior forward Lamont Tillery added a season-high 12 points and career-high eight rebounds for the Warriors.

ESU led 37-36 at halftime, going on a 15-1 run to break the game open midway through the half before Kutztown closed with a 9-1 stretch to get back with one.

It was 45-44 with 17 minutes to play before ESU put together a 9-0 spurt in just over 100 seconds, and the Warriors maintained a comfortable margin the rest of the way.

Grant scored 20 points and Moore had 14 between the 9:00 mark of the first half and 15:00 mark of the second half, before a three-pointer by junior guard Matt Tobin (four points, three rebounds, three assists) broke their scoring run and gave ESU its first double-figure lead at 54-44.

Tillery had the only bucket besides Grant and Moore in that span and had six points in each half. Tillery (eight rebounds), senior forward Zechariah Runkle (nine) and Moore (seven) helped ESU to a 39-34 advantage on the glass, and pulled down nine of the Warriors' 13 offensive rebounds.

Grant hit the 1,000-point mark for his career with 23 points in an 88-65 win over Mansfield on Wednesday, and finished with a 52-point week. He was 10-for-17 from the field, 3-for-7 from the three-point line and 6-for-6 at the foul line against Kutztown.

Grant's career-highs of 30 points came in ESU's season openers against West Liberty (2011-12) and Alderson-Broaddus (2012-13).

Josh Johnson had 18 points and six rebounds, Tyler Brooks had 17 points and eight rebounds and Tracy Peal had 13 points and seven boards to lead Kutztown (1-2, 0-1), which opened its PSAC East schedule.

ESU was 21-for-24 at the foul line and 8-for-20 from the three-point line, giving the Warriors 55 three-pointers in the first six games.

Junior guard Muhamadou Kaba added nine points and three rebounds off the bench for ESU, as Tillery (12), Kaba and sophomore guard Malcolm Richardson (5) combined for 26 bench points.

Moore, last week's PSAC East Freshman of the Week with 12.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game in four victories, bettered those averages in both games this week. He had 13 points and six rebounds against Mansfield, and 14 points and seven rebounds against Kutztown.

The Warriors, who have their fourth start of at least 6-0 in the last 70 years, are off until Wednesday, December 4 when they host Lock Haven at 8 p.m. at Koehler Fieldhouse.


GAME NOTES
* ESU is first among others receiving votes in this week's NABC Division II Coaches Poll.
* The Warriors have been ranked in two of the last four years. Last year, they were ranked for 6 straight weeks and as high as No. 9, the highest in school history, on February 12.
* They were also ranked for 6 weeks during the 2009-10 season, reaching No. 12 on February 10.

* ESU is 6-0 for the 4th time since 1943. Other starts of at least 6-0 came in 1971-72 (10-0), 1991-92 (7-0) and 2009-10 (13-0).
* Prior to World War II, the Warriors opened 12-0 (entire season) in 1942-43, 12-0 in 1941-42, 7-0 in 1932-33 and 9-0 (program's first 9 games) in 1926-27.

* Through Saturday's games - Grant leads active DII juniors with 1,033 career points, 2 more than UScience's Garret Kerr.  Mansfield's Joe Bell is 4th with 1,002 career points.

* R-Jr. G Will Brown scored 8 points (3-5 fg, 2-3 3pt) in his first career start. Brown came off the bench in his first 30 career games - averaging 8.8 ppg in 25 games as a freshman in 2010-11, and 11.2 ppg in 5 games this season. He missed the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons due to injury.

* ESU has scored at least 79 points in each of its first 6 games, the longest stretch to open a season in school history.
* ESU is averaging 88.2 points per game with 4 players in double figures in Grant (18.0), Moore (12.8), Brown (10.7) and So. G Jamal Nwaniemeka (10.4).
* ESU is shooting 48.9 percent from the field and 39.9 percent from the 3-point line.
* Defensively, the Warriors are limiting opponents to 65.3 ppg and a 41.9 field goal percentage. They are +47 in the turnover column (+7.8 per game) after ranking 11th in DII at +4.9 last year.