Box Score

MANSFIELD - Mansfield outscored East Stroudsburg University 13-3 over the final three minutes to pull out a 74-70 win in PSAC East men's basketball on Saturday at Decker Gymnasium.

ESU (17-9, 15-6), which secured the PSAC East's No. 1 seed and at least a share of its third straight PSAC East regular season title with an 82-76 win at West Chester on Wednesday, can win its third straight outright title with a victory over second-place Kutztown (17-10, 14-7) this coming Wednesday.

Junior guard Jamal Nwaniemeka scored 16 points, redshirt senior guard Will Brown scored 15 and senior guard Whis Grant had 14 points and six assists for ESU, which was playing without senior guard Matt Tobin, the PSAC leader in assists, assist-to-turnover ratio and steals.

Charles Pemberton scored 23 points, including six straight late in the game, for Mansfield (11-14, 9-12), which moves into fifth in the PSAC East with one game remaining in the regular season.

Thomas Moore had 13 points and 10 assists and Ralik Wise had 12 for the Mounties. Joe Bell, fourth in the PSAC with 17.0 ppg, scored two points on 1-of-6 shooting.

Mansfield led 42-37 at halftime before ESU opened the second half with a 7-1 run to take its first lead of the game.

The Warriors broke a 51-51 tie on a dunk by Nwaniemeka after a steal and assist by Grant, followed by a Grant three-pointer, to make it 56-51 with 11 minutes left.

Grant scored 10 of ESU's final 17 points and scored consecutive buckets, including another three, for a 63-57 lead with 5:39 remaining.

Senior forward Lamont Tillery (8 points) scored and Grant had a putback to give ESU a 67-61 edge with 3:20 left, but Pemberton scored on three straight possessions for Mansfield to tie the game at 67-all with 1:32 on the clock.

Andreas Katopodis hit a three to put Mansfield in front with 57.0 seconds left. After an ESU miss, the Mounties went 4-for-6 at the foul line in the final half minute. Tillery hit a three to get ESU within 73-70 with 4.0 seconds left, but Katopodis hit the back half of a one-and-one to seal it with 3.3 seconds left.

Tillery set an ESU record, playing in his 119th career game, breaking a tie with Tobin, Duane Johnson and Terrance King (both 2009-13). Tobin had played in the first 118 games of his career.

Grant moves into eighth in PSAC history with 263 career three-pointers.

ESU made 12 three's, including four by Nwaniemeka, three by Brown and two each from Grant and Tillery.

ESU is the first school to win three straight PSAC East regular season titles since 1985-87 (Millersville) and is 48-11 in countable PSAC games in the last three seasons.

The Warriors have already secured the PSAC East's No. 1 seed and will host a quarterfinal game on Tuesday, March 3 at 7 p.m. at Koehler Fieldhouse.

Wednesday night's game vs. Kutztown (8 p.m.) will be the final home regular season game for four-year seniors Muhamadou Kaba, Grant, Tillery and Tobin. The quartet has an 89-30 record in four seasons, including two PSAC championships (2012, 2014), three NCAA Tournament appearances (2012, 2013, 2014), three PSAC Final Four's (2012, 2013, 2014) and three PSAC East regular season titles (2013, 2014, 2015).