JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – The East Stroudsburg University men's basketball team saw its three-game win streak come to end on Saturday as the Warriors dropped a 79-62 decision at Pitt-Johnstown in the first PSAC game for both teams this season.
ESU (3-2, 0-1 PSAC East) shot 39-percent from the field and made 8-of-30 (.267) from beyond the arc, while Pitt-Johnstown (4-1, 1-0 PSAC West) posted a 51.9-percent shooting night and converted 3-of-12 (.250) from deep. The Mountain Cats won the battle on the boards, 37-27.
Redshirt sophomore Marc Rodriguez led ESU in scoring for the third time this season, dropping 12 points and making 3-of-8 from three-point territory. Troy Jones was the other Warrior in double-figures, finishing with 11 points to go along with four rebounds and three assists. Carlos Pepin tallied nine points and finished with team-highs in rebounds (5), steals (3) and blocks (2), while Kitt Najee Walls added nine points and a team-high six assists.
For Pitt-Johnstown, John Paul Kromka led the way with a game-high 28 points on 10-of-13 shooting, while also adding nine rebounds and five blocks. Caiden Landis (14 pts) and Drew Magestro (12 pts) helped fuel the offense with double-digit scoring performances.
ESU grabbed a 14-11 lead at the 13:34 mark of the first half following a 7-0 run on back-to-back threes from Jones and Rodriguez followed by a pair of buckets from Pepin, but UPJ answered with nine straight to retake a 20-14 advantage at the midway point of the stanza.
The Warriors cut their deficit back to just one point with 8:20 showing on the clock before a big rally by the Mountain Cats gave them their largest lead of the half at 33-19. Landis scored five of the team's opening six points during the run, and Magestro capped things off with a three-pointer to pad the advantage to 14 with less than a minute remaining in the half.
Zion Darby was able to convert a pair of free throws for ESU in the last second to make it a 33-21 game heading into the halftime break.
In the early going of the second half, UPJ rallied for nine straight to stretch its lead to 47-26 with 14:41 on the clock, marking the team's largest lead of the contest. ESU countered minutes later with its own rally to get back within striking distance. After a Justin Paz jumper to begin the run, the Warriors drained a trio of three-pointers on long balls from Jones, Rodriguez and Pepin to cut the deficit back down to 10 points, 51-41, with 10:33 remaining.
Pitt-Johnstown was able to answer back with eight of the game's next 10 points to pad the lead back to 16 with 8:31 left. From there, the Warriors weren't able to close the gap back under 11 points the rest of the way, as UPJ rounded out the 79-62 win.
The Warriors are back in action tomorrow (Nov. 24) for a matchup with No. 8 IUP at 3:05 p.m. The game will be streamed on the NCAA DII Facebook page and Twitter account as part of the DII National Showcase.
