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EAST STROUDSBURG – Junior guard Whis Grant scored 22 points, junior guard Matt Tobin had 18 points, nine assists and five steals and No. 6-ranked East Stroudsburg University secured its second straight PSAC East title and third in five years with a 93-77 win over Bloomsburg on Saturday at Koehler Fieldhouse.

ESU (23-1, 13-1) will hang its fourth divisional champion banner, joining PSAC East titles won in 1992, 2010 and 2013, as the Warriors closed with a 16-5 run to finish off Bloomsburg (14-9, 9-4), which falls a half-game behind West Chester in the hunt for the division's No. 2 seed.

ESU matches its 1972-73 team with 23 wins, the second-most in school history, and is one win from the record-setting 2009-10 team which finished 24-6 and made the first of three trips to the NCAA Division II Tournament in the last four years.

Grant moved into ESU's top 10 in career scoring and Tobin entered the top 10 in single-season assists, just missing his third double-double of the year.

Sophomore guard Jamal Nwaniemeka added 17 points, including a four-point play to start the Warriors' finishing run after Bloomsburg closed within 77-72 with 5:01 remaining.

It was all Warriors from there, as the Huskies scored on just two of their final eight possessions – while ESU scored on six of its last eight, including three-pointers by Nwaniemeka, Grant and senior forward Zechariah Runkle.

Tobin had a steal and assisted on a layup by freshman forward Rasheed Moore for an 83-72 lead with 3:50 left, and after Bloomsburg's Jon Riles made a three, Grant answered with a three following an offensive rebound by Runkle to push the lead back to double figures for the final time.

Runkle had 13 points and eight rebounds, both two off his season-highs, and tied a career-best with three three-pointers.

Moore, a five-time PSAC East Freshman of the Week, had nine points, all in the last 11 minutes. Junior forward Lamont Tillery added seven points and five rebounds.

Tobin, the PSAC leader in assists (6.0 per game), also took over the conference lead in steals (2.3 per game) with his five steals against the Huskies.

Bloomsburg had all five starters in double figures in Alssene Saintilus (19), Dontahe Jordan (18), Riles (11), Andrew Morgan (11) and Charles Haigler (11).

The Warriors made 12 three-pointers in the game and opened 5-for-5 from behind the arc, part of a 29-12 start in the first eight minutes. They scored the first 11 to open the game, getting three's from Nwaniemeka, Grant and Runkle, and hit eight three's in the first half to open a 50-38 lead.

Bloomsburg closed a 15-point deficit (57-42) with 16:30 left to get within single digits, and as close as five points on five occasions.

Grant and Runkle both had putbacks and Nwaniemeka scored on a strong drive to stem the tide before ESU's burst to end it.

ESU is off on Wednesday and has two regular season games remaining – a trip to Cheyney on Saturday, and a match-up with West Chester in the regular season finale on Wednesday, February 26 at 8 p.m. at Koehler Fieldhouse.

ESU, the PSAC East's top seed, will host a PSAC quarterfinal game on Tuesday, March 4 at Koehler Fieldhouse. The division's top remaining seed after the quarterfinals will host the PSAC Final Four on Saturday, March 8 (1 and 3:30 p.m.) and Sunday, March 9 (3:30 p.m.)


GAME NOTES

* Grant is 8th at ESU with 1,339 career points. Former teammates Duane Johnson (1,347) and Terrance King (1,337), who both played from 2009-13, are on either side of him in the top 10.
* Grant passed the late Ed Urie (1,329 – 1985-90), Dave Moyer (1,332 – 1974-78) and King on Saturday.

* Grant, the reigning PSAC East Athlete of the Year, is averaging 20.1 ppg in 14 divisional games, and has scored 20+ points 9 times.
* Grant scored 20+ points for the 25th time in his career. ESU is 20-5 when he hits the 20-point mark.

* Tobin went over the 300-assist mark for his career. He is currently 7th with 306.

* Tobin (724 career points) and his brother Mike (790), the #2 scorer and top rebounder on ESU's 2010 and 2011 teams, have combined for 1,514 points for the Warriors. Mike played 4 years from 2007-11 and was 2nd team All-PSAC East as a senior, and Matt arrived in the fall of 2011.

* ESU has won PSAC East titles in 1992, 2010, 2013 and 2014. The Warriors have won two conference tournament titles, in 1990 and 2012.

* 20 of ESU's 23 victories have come by double figures. The Warriors were 4th in DII in scoring margin (+19.4) entering the weekend.

* The Warriors have won 65 games in the last 3 years (65-20), the most in school history. The 1970-71 through 72-73 teams were 63-12.

* The Warriors are 105-38 since the start of the 2009-10 season.
 
* ESU has 9 seasons with 20+ wins. The others came in 1971, 1972, 1973, 1990, 1992, 2010, 2012 and 2013.

* Jeff Wilson, 206-128 in his 12th season, ranks 2nd at ESU in career victories
* Ken Sisson holds the career record with 215, going 215-245 in 19 years (1963-78, 79-83).

* ESU is ranked in the top 10 in DII for the 7th straight week, and the 9th week in program history.

* ESU has won 3 straight since its only loss of the season, 82-80 at Lock Haven on February 6.
* ESU was the final undefeated team in DII this season.
* ESU's 20-game win streak to start the season was the PSAC's longest since 1994-95, when IUP opened 21-0.
* The last PSAC team to go undefeated in the regular season was Cheyney (24-0) in 1965-66.

* ESU extended its home winning streak to 14 games, including 12 straight against PSAC opponents.

* ESU led DII in turnover margin (+8.0) entering the weekend, and had a 17-11 turnover margin vs. Bloomsburg.
* When holding a turnover margin of +5 or greater, ESU is: 17-1 this year, 32-3 the last 2 years, and 52-11 since the start of the 2009-10 season.