Box Score

EAST STROUDSBURG – The East Stroudsburg University men's basketball team handed the Mercyhurst Lakers a 78-61 loss to open PSAC action on Saturday inside Koehler Fieldhouse as the Warriors held the Lakers to a season-low 61 points.
 
ESU (4-2, 1-0 PSAC) limited the Lakers to just 22 points in the first half of action and held Mercyhurst below its season average of 80 points per contest. The Warriors tallied 22 points in the contest off 18 turnovers by the Lakers. Mercyhurst (4-1, 0-1 PSAC) had limited teams to just 52 points of offense per outing this season but couldn't stop the inside game of the Warriors on Saturday.
 
Redshirt senior Jakwan Jones tallied a game-high 22 points for ESU as the Philadelphia, Pa. native went 10-for-10 in the contest at the free-throw line. Jones also recorded a game-high five assists to go along with seven boards and two steals. Redshirt senior Josh Williams added 18 points and eight rebounds for the Warriors. Williams finished the contest 8-of-11 from the field. Junior Michal Weiss scored a career-high 14 points for ESU and was 7-of-9 from the field.
 
Mercyhurst was paced by 18 points from Jason Massey, who went 8-of-15 from the floor. Derrick Ellis added 10 points and four steals for the Lakers, while Trystan Pratapas delivered eight points. Evaldo Ferreira notched a team-high seven rebounds for the Lakers in the contest.
 
The Warriors would lead from start to finish in the contest as Weiss and Jones would open the scoring to give ESU a quick 4-0 lead. The lead increased to 11-2 following a jumper from Williams in the paint with 15:28 left on the clock. Williams would later give ESU a 12 point cushion after his layup made it 17-5.
 
Mercyhurst closed the deficit late in the half as Patrick Smith finished a layup to pull the Lakers within three of ESU, 24-21. Williams closed the scoring in the half for ESU with a layup in the paint to make it 33-21 with less than a minute to play before Massey delivered a layup with 35 ticks left to cut the deficit to 10 heading into the half.
 
ESU would have no troubles in the second half of action as the Warriors built the lead to 70-50 with 4:54 remaining in the contest following a jumper from senior Nick Giordano. Redshirt freshman Mike Millsip gave the Warriors their largest lead of the night with 2:07 remaining as his jumper in the paint made it 71-53. Freshman Ish Horn closed the scoring for ESU as his jumper made it 78-59 with 17 ticks left.
 
The Warriors host Slippery Rock for a PSAC contest on Monday at 5 p.m. inside Koehler Fieldhouse.