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ESU recaps: W 99-98 vs Livingstone  l  W 66-58 vs Gannon

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Related:
Pocono Record - ESU's dream season ends with 89-82 loss to West Liberty
Morning Call - ESU rally comes up short against West Liberty
Express-Times - West Liberty tops ESU in Atlantic Region final

EAST STROUDSBURG - No. 2-ranked East Stroudsburg University's historic season came to an end in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region final on Tuesday night at Koehler Fieldhouse, as No. 7 West Liberty prevailed for an 89-82 win and its fourth straight regional title.

ESU (30-2), which advanced to the regional final for the second time in school history and first time since 1990, won its second PSAC championship in three years and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in five years.

West Liberty moves on to its fourth straight NCAA DII Elite Eight, which will be held March 26-29 in Evansville, Indiana. The Hilltoppers (29-3) will face defending national champion Drury, the Midwest Region champion, in the national quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Regional Most Outstanding Player Cedric Harris, the Daktronics Atlantic Region Player of the Year, had 21 points, four rebounds and four assists to lead West Liberty. CJ Hester, also on the All-Tournament team, had 16 points and 17 rebounds, Keene Cockburn had 17 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks and Shawn Dyer scored 16 points for WLU.

Junior guard Whis Grant, ESU's All-Tournament team representative, had 19 points, five rebounds and four assists for the Warriors. Grant scored 29 points in a 99-98 win over Livingstone in the first round on Saturday, and had 23 in a 66-58 win over Gannon on Sunday.

Freshman forward Rasheed Moore had 17 points and eight rebounds, redshirt junior guard Will Brown scored 13 points and junior forward Lamont Tillery added 10 points.

Senior forward Zechariah Runkle, ESU's only senior, had nine points and 12 rebounds, his third straight game in double figures. Runkle had a career-high 15 rebounds against Livingstone and 11 rebounds vs. Gannon, finishing the regional with 21 points and 38 rebounds.

West Liberty led 44-39 after a first half that included six lead changes and five ties. WLU led by seven early before ESU took a 37-31 lead after five straight points from Moore with three minutes left in the period.

West Liberty closed the half on a 13-2 run, including 11 straight points with three-pointers from Hester, Harris and Cockburn to go in front for good.

In the second half, West Liberty built a 13-point lead (72-59) after a three-pointer by Dyer with 9:10 remaining before the Warriors closed the margin.

ESU forced a West Liberty turnover, trailing 82-79, with 2:00 left, but couldn't convert with Runkle fouling out after Hester grabbed a defensive rebound.

The Warriors got another stop but were empty on the offensive end, and Hester found Devin Hoehn for a fastbreak layup and a five-point lead. Dyer knocked down a jumper for a seven-point edge (86-79) with 1:02 left.

Tillery hit a three to make it 86-82 and ESU got a defensive stop, but Tobin's runner came up short and Hester grabbed the defensive board and was fouled with 12 seconds left. He made both free throws, and Hoehn made 1-of-2 with four seconds left for the final margin.


Atlantic Regional All-Tournament Team
Cedric Harris, West Liberty (Most Outstanding Player)
CJ Hester, West Liberty
Whis Grant, East Stroudsburg
Marcel Souberbielle, IUP
Mark Thomas, Livingstone


GAME NOTES

* Jr. G Whis Grant is ranked 4th at ESU in career scoring with 1,487 points. He surpassed Keith Fisher (1,483 - 1987-91) on Tuesday. Fisher's total includes two years at Mansfield.
* ESU's top 3 scorers in school history are Jonathan Roberts (2,218 - 1986-90), Don Bones (1,775 - 1976-81) and Earle Greer (1,556 - 1980-84).
* Grant's 562 points this year are 6th-most in school history, and the most since Roberts scored a school-record 689 as a senior in 1989-90.
* Grant set an ESU record with 88 3-pointers this year, surpassing Andy Heimbach's 76 in 2009-10.
* Grant has 205 career 3's, 2nd behind Heimbach's record 236 (2006-10).

* Jr. G Matt Tobin ranks 2nd in single-season assists with 205, trailing only Bob Schlosser with 230 (1974-75).
* Tobin ranks 4th in career assists with 368 entering his senior season.
* Tobin's 70 steals this year are tied for 5th on the single-season list.

* Fr. F Rasheed Moore ranks 2nd on ESU's freshman lists with 435 points and 203 rebounds.

* Sr. F Zechariah Runkle had 21 points and 38 rebounds in three games in the regional. He had a career-high 15 rebounds vs. Livingstone, 11 vs. Gannon and 12 vs. West Liberty.
* Runkle is ESU's only senior.


REGION, TEAM NOTES

* The regional semifinals included the last five regional champions - Gannon (2009), IUP (2010) and West Liberty (2011-13). ESU hosted an NCAA men's basketball regional for the first time in program history.

* ESU (30-2) is the 4th PSAC team to reach 30 wins. IUP was 33-3 in 2010, advancing to the national championship game. Gannon was 30-4 in 2009, and California was 31-2 in 1992.

* ESU is 1-3 all-time against West Liberty. The two schools met twice in 2011-12 -- West Liberty won 96-92 in the season opener in a tournament at Shippensburg, and 119-82 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at West Liberty after the Warriors earned the PSAC's automatic bid with the conference tournament title.
* ESU won 90-79 in a tournament at Clarion in 1999-00.

* Tuesday night's game was the only regional final between schools in the top 10 in the final NABC DII poll of the regular season - ESU was ranked No. 2 and West Liberty (28-3) was No. 7.
* It was also the only No. 1 vs. No. 2 match-up in the 8 regions in DII.

* The 8 regional champions advanced to the Elite 8 in Evansville, Indiana on March 26-29.

* ESU's 99 points on Saturday against Livingstone were the most of any of the 32 first-round games in this year's NCAA DII Tournament.

* ESU played in the NCAA DII Tournament for the 4th time in 5 years, and the 5th time in school history.
* ESU is 3-5 in NCAA Tournament games.
* ESU's first 2 NCAA Tournament wins came by the same score - 99-98 (1990 vs. Slippery Rock in OT, 2014 home vs. Livingstone).

* ESU's PSAC championship last week at Koehler Fieldhouse (W 92-80 vs. West Chester) was the program's 2nd in 3 years, and 3rd in school history (also 1990).

* ESU set a school record with 30 wins. The previous record of 24 wins was set in 2009-10, going 24-6.

* ESU's No. 2 ranking is the highest in school history, and the highest for a PSAC school since IUP was No. 2 on March 9, 2010.

* ESU won 20 consecutive home games, the 3rd-longest streak in school history.
* ESU's 1940-41 thru 42-43 teams won 25 straight, and the 1990-91 thru 92-93 teams won 23 straight.
* ESU was 18-1 at Koehler Fieldhouse this year.

* 22 of ESU's 30 victories were by double figures. The Warriors were 4th in DII in scoring margin (+17.8) entering the week.

* The Warriors have won 72 games in the last 3 years (72-21), the most in school history. The 1970-71 through 72-73 teams were 63-12.

* The Warriors are 112-39 since the start of the 2009-10 season, the 3rd-most wins and 3rd-best winning percentage in the Atlantic Region in the last 5 years.

* ESU won its 2nd straight PSAC East regular season title this winter, and the 4th in school history (1992, 2010, 2013, 2014).
 
* Jeff Wilson, 213-129 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 finished ranked in the NABC DII poll for the first time in school history.
* ESU is ranked in the top 10 in DII for the 11th straight week, and the 13th week in program history.
* ESU is ranked in the top 25 for the 15th straight week, after being ranked for 13 weeks in program history previously.

* ESU won 10 straight since its only loss of the season, 82-80 at Lock Haven on February 6.
* ESU is the first PSAC team to have win streaks of 20+ and 10+ games in the same season.

* ESU was the final undefeated team in DII this season at 20-0.
* 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 (+7.7) entering the NCAA's. The Warriors won the turnover margin against Gannon (22-19) and West Liberty (10-8) this weekend. They lost it against Livingstone (14-10) for just the 2nd time in 31 games this season.
* When holding a turnover margin of +5 or greater, ESU was: 20-1 this year, 35-3 the last 2 years, and 55-11 since the start of the 2009-10 season.