Box Score  l  Photo Gallery

EAST STROUDSBURG - East Stroudsburg University men's basketball head coach Jeff Wilson earned his 285th career win, moving into the top 10 in PSAC history, with the Warriors' 103-62 win over Cheyney on Saturday afternoon at Koehler Fieldhouse.

ESU (14-4, 11-3), ranked fourth in NCAA Division II in scoring (94.0 ppg) entering the weekend, hit the 100-point mark for the school-record tying seventh time this season and sets up a trip to PSAC East leader Shippensburg (15-3, 11-2) on Wednesday. ESU won the first meeting, 90-79, on January 3 at Koehler Fieldhouse.

Wilson improves to 285-161 (.639) in his 16th season, leading the Warriors to 12 straight winning seasons, five with at least 20 wins, six PSAC Final Four's (2010-15), four PSAC East regular season titles (2010, 2013-15), four NCAA Tournaments (2010, 2012-14) and the 2012 and 2014 PSAC championships.

He is also a two-time NABC DII Atlantic Region Coach of the Year (2010, 2014) and was the 2014 DII Coach of the Year by Basketball Times and CollegeInsider.com, leading the Warriors to a 30-2 record, No. 2 ranking in the final NABC regular season poll and the Atlantic Region final.

Since becoming head coach in 2002-03, ESU ranks second in the PSAC in win percentage (.639), first in assists per game (15.8), turnover margin (+3.0) and steals per game (9.3), and second in points per game (78.8) as Wilson brought back the Warriors' 94-foot style from his nine seasons as an assistant coach under Sal Mentesana from 1987-96.

ESU had a 28-12 turnover advantage, 17 steals and 27 assists on its 39 made field goals against Cheyney. The Warriors entered as the DII leader in turnovers forced (22.7) and steals (12.7), and second in turnover margin (+8.1) and assists (20.6).

Redshirt junior forward Josh Williams had 17 points and four blocked shots, senior guard Ryan Krawczeniuk scored 16, redshirt senior forward Steve Harris (14.7 ppg) had 12 and redshirt junior guard Jakwan Jones had 12 points and nine assists, just missing his third straight 10-assist game.

Eight Warriors scored at least seven points, with freshman guard Marc Rodriguez scoring nine on three three's, junior guard Nick Giordano netting eight and sophomore guard Montrel Morgan and sophomore forward Kobi Nwandu posting seven each.

Sophomore forward Michael Weiss scored six points in seven minutes late in the contest, junior guard Kitt Najee Walls scored five points and senior forward Ralik Wise had four.

Jones (9) and Walls (6) combined for 15 of ESU's 27 assists. Jones is second in the PSAC in assists per game (5.7) and has 29 in the last three contests.

Jeff Lewis had 19 points and 13 rebounds and Cliff St. Juste scored 13 points to lead Cheyney (2-16, 2-12).

The Warriors won their 18th straight vs. the Wolves, last falling in 2009. Cheyney won 15 PSAC championships between 1965 and 1986, but has one runner-up finish (2007) in the last 31 years.

ESU led 57-30 at halftime, forcing 24 of Cheyney's 28 turnovers and registering 13 of its 17 steals.

Krawczeniuk (14), Williams (13) and Jones (10) combined for 37 points in the first half and had eight in the second.

Wilson, a 1986 ESU graduate who has been part of the ESU program for 29 of the last 35 years (three as a player, 10 as assistant coach and 16 as head coach), has played or coached against nine of the 10 PSAC coaches with at least 285 career wins.

The Warriors improve to 184-70 (.724) since the start of the 2009-10 season, which brought a then-school record 24 wins, the PSAC East regular season title and the first of four NCAA Tournament appearances in a five-year run.

ESU moves into second in the rapidly-changing PSAC East standings. West Chester, which opened 8-0 in conference play, is now 11-4 to fall to third after dropping its third straight with an 86-78 loss to Bloomsburg. Shippensburg (11-2 PSAC), which beat Kutztown 88-0 on Saturday, leads ESU (11-3) by a half-game, followed by West Chester (11-4) and Kutztown (10-4) with four weeks remaining in the 22-game PSAC schedule.

The top two teams will receive byes to the PSAC quarterfinals, with the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds hosting first-round games. The top remaining seed after the quarterfinals will host the PSAC Final Four on March 3-4.


 

GAME NOTES

PSAC career wins
559 - Charlie Chronister (Bloomsburg, 1972-02)
412 - Greg Walcavich (Edinboro, 1990-12)
402 - Ron Righter (Clarion, 1989-14)
370 - Dick Delaney (West Chester, 1987-08)
365 - Bill Brown (California, 1996-16)
356 - Rodger Goodling (Shippensburg, 1971-01)
321 - Dick Dehart (Millersville, 1956-82)
300 - Bernie Driscoll (Kutztown, 2000-present)
297 - Ed Wilson (Mansfield, 1966-87)
285 - Jeff Wilson (ESU, 2002-present)
285 - John Kochan (Millersville, 1984-96)

PSAC Final 4's since 2002-03
8 - IUP
6 - ESU
5 - Cheyney, Kutztown, West Chester

PSAC Titles since 2002-03
4 - IUP
2 - ESU, Edinboro, Gannon, Millersville

NCAA Tournaments since 2002-03
10 - IUP
4 - ESU, California, Kutztown, Millersville

ESU Career Assists
1. 546 - Matt Tobin (2011-15)
2. 467 - Mike DelGrosso (1987-91)
3. 465 - Bob Schlosser (1973-77)
4. 422 - Kevin Morrissey (1970-73)
5. 349 - Whis Grant (2011-15)
6. 336 - Kitt Najee Walls (2015-present)
7. 334 - Cliff Riddick (1977-80)
8. 310 - Robby Pines (2006-10)
9. 300 - Tyson Murdock (1989-93)
10. 294 - John Grobelny (1965-68)