Box Score  l  Morning Call: Warriors pull away from Bloomsburg

EAST STROUDSBURG - Senior guard Whis Grant and redshirt senior guard Will Brown scored 16 points to lead six double-figure scorers, and East Stroudsburg University took over first place in the PSAC East with a 99-79 win over Bloomsburg on Saturday at Koehler Fieldhouse.

The Warriors (5-2, 4-0) closed the game on a 22-7 run, including a 15-0 stretch in just over three minutes to put away Bloomsburg (6-1, 2-1), which was the only other PSAC East team unbeaten in conference play.

Grant had 16 points, six rebounds and a career-high nine assists, scoring 13 of his 16 in the first half, and Brown had 12 of his season-high 16 in the second half for ESU.

Senior forward Lamont Tillery tied his career-high with 14 points and added eight rebounds and senior guard Matt Tobin had 10 points and five assists, both playing in their 100th career games.

Sophomore forward Steve Harris had a career-high 13 points and freshman guard Jakwan Jones had 11 points to hit double figures for the first time in his ESU career.

Sophomore forward Rasheed Moore had nine points and six rebounds and junior guard Jamal Nwaniemeka had six points and a career-high six assists.

The Warriors led for the final 30 minutes, but had a 14-point second-half lead cut to five (77-72) with just over six minutes remaining before the decisive run.

Brown scored eight points, including two three's, in the 15-0 run, Grant hit a three, Nwaniemeka scored and Moore hit two free throws to stretch ESU's advantage to 92-72 with 2:59 remaining.

ESU used a 9-0 run midway through the first half as the impetus for a 45-39 halftime lead.

The Warriors, 17th in the PSAC in three-point percentage (25.5) entering the game, shot 12-for-24 from long distance. Bloomsburg - the PSAC leader (42.4 percent) - was 2-for-14.

ESU shot 56.7 percent (38-for-67) from the field, including their 12-for-24 mark from three. Bloomsburg shot 49.3 percent (34-for-69).

Charles Haigler (19 points, six rebounds) led five Bloomsburg players in double figures. Jon Riles had 14 points and seven assists, Wes Lyons had 12 points, Alssene Saintilus had 10 points and 16 rebounds and Moustapha Noumbissi had 10 points for the Huskies.

ESU won its 19th straight home game against a PSAC school, the third-longest streak in school history and four from the school record (23) set from 1989-90 through 1992-93.

The Warriors also improved to 31-4 at home since the start of the 2012-13 season.

ESU's four-year senior class (Grant, Tobin, Tillery and Muhamadou Kaba) improved to 77-23 in their careers at ESU, the second-most wins by a four-year class in program history.

The Warriors are off for 10 days over finals week and open their six-game slate against the PSAC West in their next action. ESU plays at Gannon on December 16 and Clarion on December 17 before hosting Pitt-Johnstown on Saturday, December 20.


GAME NOTES
* ESU has won consecutive PSAC East titles and 3 of the last 5. The Warriors are attempting to become the first team to win 3 straight PSAC East regular season crowns since Millersville (1985-87).

* Grant is the first ESU player with at least 16 points, 6 rebounds and 9 assists in a game under 13th-year head coach Jeff Wilson (218-131 in 349 games).

* ESU had 6 players score in double figures against PSAC team for the 4th time under Wilson:
2014-15 vs. Bloomsburg - Brown 16, Grant 16, Tillery 14, Harris 13, Jones 11, Tobin 10
2013-14 at Mansfield - Aminu 18, Moore 17, Grant 14, Tobin 13, Brown 12, Tillery 10
2010-11 vs. Bloomsburg - Covert 14, DeMarco 13, Johnson 13, King 12, Brown 11, Tobin 11
2002-03 vs. Cheyney - Majeski 17, Mohiuddin 16, Jones 12, Bishop 11, Fedorka 11, Taylor 11

* ESU improves to 51-8 in regular season games, and 57-11 overall, since the start of the 2012-13 season.
* ESU improves to 37-5 in PSAC games since the start of 2012-13.

* Tobin went over 400 career assists (402) and ranks 4th in school history.
* Grant (274) is 5 assists away from the top 10.

* Grant moved into 3rd at ESU in career scoring on Wednesday at Shippensburg and has 1,580 career points.
* Grant has 222 career 3-pointers, 16 from the school record of 236 held by Andy Heimbach (2006-10).

* Grant (1,580), Tobin (857) and Brown (578) have combined for 3,015 career points at ESU.
* This marks the 4th time in program history that ESU has fielded a team with three players who have combined for at least 3,000 points:
4,113 - 1990 (Jonathan Roberts 2218, Ed Urie 1329, Mike DelGrosso 566)
3,609 - 2013 (Duane Johnson 1347, Terrance King 1337, Whis Grant 925)
3,533 - 1981 (Don Bones 1775, George Fields 1078, Dave Lutz 680)