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Tuesday: Game notes vs. IUP

Ticket Information (below)

EAST STROUDSBURG - East Stroudsburg University's 2012-13 men's basketball season will continue in the NCAA Division II Tournament, as the Warriors were selected to the national field for the third time in four years, it was announced Sunday night.

ESU (22-6) received an at-large berth and will be the No. 6 seed, drawing a first-round match-up with the No. 3 seed, PSAC champion IUP (24-5), in the opening round of the Atlantic Regional on Saturday at West Liberty (W.V.). Game time is set for 12 p.m.

The Warriors, under 11th-year head coach Jeff Wilson, were also an at-large selection in 2010 and received the PSAC's automatic bid in 2012. ESU won the regular season meeting with IUP, 57-55, on January 4 at Koehler Fieldhouse - the second game of a school record-tying 14-game winning streak.

ESU is one of four schools to be selected from the Atlantic Region in three of the last four years, joining West Liberty (four), IUP (four) and Winston-Salem (three).

ESU has the third-best winning percentage (.695, 82-36) in the Atlantic Region in the last four years. The Warriors have won two PSAC East regular season titles (2010, 2013), played in four straight PSAC Final Fours and won the second PSAC championship in school history (2012) over the last four seasons.

The Warriors will play in the fourth NCAA Tournament in school history. They made the East Region final in 1990, when Wilson was an assistant coach under Sal Mentesana, before the recent run of three in four years.

West Liberty (30-1), the two-time defending Atlantic Region champion, is the regional host for the third straight year. The WVIAC champions will take on No. 8 Bowie State (16-13), the CIAA tournament champion, in the opening round.

Winston-Salem (21-6) is the No. 2 seed and takes on Slippery Rock (22-8), the PSAC runner-up, which lost 52-46 at IUP in the PSAC championship game on Saturday night. Slippery Rock knocked off ESU, 68-59, in the semifinals on Friday and is in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years.

Fairmont State (22-8) is the No. 4 seed as the WVIAC runner-up, falling to West Liberty 92-78 in the title game. They will take on No. 5 Livingstone (22-6), the CIAA runner-up, which had an eight-game winning streak end with an 85-74 loss to Bowie State.

ESU is led by three All-PSAC East selections in sophomore guard Whis Grant (17.3 ppg), the division's Athlete of the Year, senior forward Terrance King (13.4 ppg, 7.0 rpg), a first team selection, and senior forward Duane Johnson (14.4 ppg, 6.3 rpg), who was named to the second team.

King and Johnson have played in a school record-tying 117 games and a record 11 PSAC or NCAA Tournament games. Senior forward Gerald Bridges (7.0 ppg, 3.3 rpg) has played in 109 games and nine postseason games, and sophomore guard Matt Tobin (8.0 ppg, 3.7 apg) rounds out the starting five.


Ticket Information:
Adults - $12 per session  (ESU plays the 1st game of Session 1 on Saturday)
Students with ID - $6 per session
Adults - $20 Day Pass (2 Sessions on Saturday)
Adults - $35 Tournament Pass (All Games)

Please note: ESU is given a block of 150 tickets for Saturday's session, the remainder of which will be released back to West Liberty on Thursday.

To reserve your tickets in this block - please e-mail Greg Knowlden, ESU Sports Information Director, at gknowlden@po-box.esu.edu - by Wednesday afternoon. Please note the number of adult and student tickets requested.


Schedule if ESU advances:
Saturday - 12 p.m. vs. IUP
Sunday - 5 p.m. vs. Winston-Salem/Slippery Rock winner
Tuesday - 7 p.m., Regional final