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Will Brown
Tory Stella
Redshirt junior guard Will Brown scored a career-high 25 points, including seven 3-pointers, in ESU's school record-setting 25th win of the season vs. West Chester.

#3 Warriors (25-1) Set School Record for Wins, Edge West Chester 74-71

2/26/2014 12:00:00 AM

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EAST STROUDSBURG – Redshirt junior guard Will Brown scored a career-high 25 points, leading No. 3-ranked East Stroudsburg University to a 74-71 win over West Chester and a school-record 25th win on Wednesday night at Koehler Fieldhouse.

ESU (25-1, 15-1) surpassed its 2009-10 team that finished with a 24-6 record, holding off the Golden Rams down the stretch in the regular season finale. The Warriors had already secured their second straight PSAC East regular season title.

ESU finishes the regular season with a 13-0 home record and has won 15 straight at Koehler Fieldhouse dating to last season.

Junior forward Lamont Tillery and freshman forward Rasheed Moore added 13 points each and senior forward Zechariah Runkle had nine points and 10 rebounds for the Warriors, including a key basket at the end of the shot clock and a three-point play in the final three minutes.

The Warriors closed the game on a 10-4 run in the final 5:30, holding West Chester to 2-for-6 from the field with a turnover down the stretch.

ESU will host Lock Haven or Millersville in a PSAC quarterfinal game on Tuesday, March 4 at 7 p.m. at Koehler Fieldhouse. The PSAC East's top remaining seed after the quarterfinals will host the PSAC Final Four on March 8-9.

Brown carried the Warriors in the first half, scoring 20 points including six three-pointers as ESU led 46-37 at intermission. He finished the night with seven three's, the most by a Warrior since Andy Heimbach did it twice during the 2007-08 season.

ESU led 56-44 with 15 minutes left after a three-pointer by Tillery, but West Chester got back in it over the next four minutes. A basket by Shannon Givens (22 points) brought the Golden Rams within three points at the 11-minute mark, and West Chester took its first lead of the game with just over seven minutes left.

The Warriors stayed within one possession over the next three minutes and went back ahead on two free throws by junior guard Whis Grant, the PSAC's fifth-leading scorer, for his first points of the game with 4:03 remaining.

West Chester answered with a quick bucket by Ben Mingledough to go in front 69-68, but the Warriors got a stop and Runkle threw in an off-balance 18-footer for a 70-69 lead with 2:19 to play.

WCU came up empty on its next trip and Runkle had a putback off a miss by junior guard Matt Tobin for a 72-69 advantage at the 1:16 mark.

Givens hit a jumper to cut it to one point (72-71) with 35 seconds to play. ESU Sophomore guard Jamal Nwaniemeka hit two key free throws to push the lead back to three with 27 seconds left, and Givens missed two potential game-tying three-pointers down the stretch.

Tobin had five points, four rebounds and eight assists to add to his PSAC lead, and Grant had five rebounds and four assists in his lowest-scoring game (two points) since late in his freshman season.

Grant moved into seventh at ESU in career scoring on Saturday at Cheyney and enters the postseason with 1,365 career points, averaging more than 16 per night in 85 games.

Givens had 22 points, eight rebounds and eight assists to lead West Chester (18-8, 11-5), which will be the PSAC East's No. 2 seed and host either Bloomsburg or Kutztown on Tuesday night.

Mingledough scored 15, Troy Hockaday had 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists and Wisely had four points, 14 boards and five assists for the Golden Rams.

The Warriors won both meetings vs. West Chester this year, rallying from a six-point deficit to finish with a 22-3 run in the final 5:38 of a 107-94 win at Hollinger Fieldhouse on January 25.

ESU was 1-1 against #4 seed Lock Haven in the regular season, falling 82-80 at LHU on February 6 for its only loss of the season after a 20-0 start. The Warriors won the first meeting, 102-87, on December 4 at Koehler Fieldhouse.

The Warriors were 2-0 against Millersville this year, winning 96-68 on the road on December 7, and 93-64 at home on February 8.


Zack Runkle




GAME NOTES
* Runkle, ESU's only senior, came up one point shy of his first career double-double on Senior Night. He has 243 career points and 259 rebounds in 65 games for the Warriors over the last 3 years.

* Brown is the 13th player in program history with 100 career 3's after making a career-high 7 vs. West Chester.
* Brown's 7 3-pointers are the most by a Warrior since Andy Heimbach (school-record 236 career 3's) made 7 against Holy Family and Queens as a sophomore in 2007-08.
* His 25 points are a career-high, surpassing a 24-point game vs. Seton Hill on December 30, 2010.
* Brown had his 3rd career game with 20+ points off the bench - the most by a Warrior under head coach Jeff Wilson.

* ESU went undefeated at home in the regular season (13-0) for the 5th time in school history - also: 12-0 (1972-73), 11-0 (1991-92), 10-0 (1941-42) and 9-0 (1936-37).
* ESU is in its 87th season of varsity basketball.

* 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 25 victories have come by double figures. The Warriors were 4th in DII in scoring margin (+18.9) entering the week.

* The Warriors have won 67 games in the last 3 years (67-20), the most in school history. The 1970-71 through 72-73 teams were 63-12.

* The Warriors are 107-38 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, 208-128 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 9th straight week, and the 11th week in program history.
* ESU is ranked in the top 25 for the 13th straight week, after being ranked for 13 weeks in program history previously.

* ESU has won 5 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 led DII in turnover margin (+7.8) entering the week, and had a 22-18 turnover margin at Cheyney.
* When holding a turnover margin of +5 or greater, ESU is: 18-1 this year, 33-3 the last 2 years, and 53-11 since the start of the 2009-10 season.

* ESU is ranked 2nd in this week's NCAA DII Atlantic Region rankings, released earlier Wednesday. The Warriors were also 2nd in the initial set last week:
1. West Liberty - 21-2 (DII record), 20-2 (in-region record)
2. ESU - 23-1, 23-1
3. IUP - 22-3, 22-3
4. Charleston - 17-7, 17-7
5. Shepherd - 19-7, 19-7
6. Gannon - 18-8, 18-8
7. West Chester - 18-7, 18-7
8. Glenville State - 16-9, 16-9
9. Fairmont State - 15-9, 15-9
10. WV Wesleyan - 16-10, 16-10
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