EAST STROUDSBURG – The East Stroudsburg University men's basketball team celebrated Senior Day in style on Saturday from Koehler Fieldhouse, defeating West Chester by a 103-87 margin to collect its ninth straight win.
Marc Rodriguez made 7-of-9 overall and 5-of-6 from long range to set a new career-high with 22 points, and
Mike Millsip also added a career-high 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
Troy Jones (12) and
Montrel Morgan (10) also finished with double-digit points, and
Kitt Najee Walls added nine points and a game-high seven assists.
ESU had an efficient shooting night, hitting 54.7-percent overall while making 12-of-23 (.522) from downtown. West Chester shot 46.4-percent from the field and made 11-of-28 (.393) from deep.
ESU rounds out the regular season with a 19-8 overall record and 15-7 mark in PSAC play. The Warriors head into the conference tournament as the East's No. 2 seed and will have a bye in the opening round. They will host the winner of No. 3 West Chester and No. 6 Lock Haven on March 4 at Koehler Fieldhouse.
East Stroudsburg honored Morgan, Walls and
Michal Weiss with a pregame ceremony as part of Senior Day. The three Warriors have helped lead the team to two PSAC East Regular Season Championships, a PSAC Tournament Championship, and an NCAA Atlantic Region Championship during their careers, and also helped bring ESU to its first-ever NCAA Elite 8 appearance in 2018.
The Warriors grabbed their first double-digit lead of the contest at the 7:08 mark of the first half on a bucket in the paint from
Zach Sabol. They pushed the lead to 19 in the ensuing minutes following Rodriguez' fifth three of the game with 4:11 left in the half.
Robbie Heath made a pair of free throws on the other end for the Golden Rams, before ESU closed the half on a 10-2 run to take a big 62-37 advantage into the intermission.
ESU grabbed its largest lead of the tilt, 68-40, in the early minutes of the second half on a jumper from Walls, and the Warriors' lead remained 20-plus for a good portion of the frame.
The Golden Rams began chipping away at the lead heading under the midway mark of the half, and eventually cut it to a single-digit game with 4:31 remaining on a jumper from Heath.
With the ESU lead sitting at nine with under four minutes to play, Weiss converted in the paint, and Millsip followed with a three-pointer to stretch the advantage back to 14 for the Warriors. From there, ESU made its free throws down the stretch to close out the 103-87 win and record its season-high ninth straight win.
The 103 points were the third-most in a game for the Warriors this season, trailing only a 110-point output against Cheyney and a 104-point performance vs. Felician.
WCU freshman Robbie Heath led all scorers in the contest with 39 points to go along with 10 rebounds, as he set the new WCU single-season scoring record in the tilt.
The Warriors will learn their opponent for the PSAC Quarterfinal round following the conclusion of the opening round matchup between West Chester and Lock Haven on March 2. ESU's Quarterfinal game will take place on March 4 at 7:30 p.m. from Koehler Fieldhouse.