BUFFALO, N.Y. – Trailing 25-15 in the first half, the East Stroudsburg University men's basketball team grabbed the lead within the opening minute of the second half and did not relinquish it, defeating D'Youville 88 to 70 on Saturday afternoon at College Center.
The Warriors improve to 4-0 heading into PSAC crossover action and its home opener next week. The Saints (1-4) fall after picking up a win over nationally ranked Mercyhurst last week.
The Warriors cut the deficit at halftime to a single point at 38-37, and outscored the Saints, 51-32, in the second half. ESU closed the game on a 17-6 run over the final four minutes to gain separation late.
Notables
- Lakeem McAliley recorded his first double-double of the season, pouring in a team-high 17 points (5-12 FG, 7-8 FT), while leading the game with 12 rebounds and two blocks. The junior now stands at 965 career points, just 35 points away from becoming the 34th Warrior to reach 1,000 career points. The Philadelphia native would be just the fifth player in program history to reach 1,000 career points during his junior season.
- Jaelen McGlone (5-8 FG, 2-4 3PT) stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals in 26 minutes on the floor. Tyshawn Trail (4-8 FG) and Nasir Griffin (5-9 FG) also reached double-figures with 11 points. Cam Young and Carson Howard neared double digits in scoring with nine points each, combining to shoot 12-14 from the free-throw line.
- Justin Paz and Jaelen Pichardo each totaled seven points in the balanced scoring effort, with Paz tied for the game-high five assists, while Pichardo grabbed four rebounds. Shamir Hohnson added five points and two steals.
- Noah Hutchins paced the Saints with a game-best 23 points, adding four rebounds, four assists and three steals, turning the ball over eight times. Trayton Trice also reached double-figures with 12 points and led DYU with seven rebounds.
- After shooting 40 percent in the first half, ESU saw over 55 percent (16-29) of its field goals fall through the hoop in the second half. ESU shot 47.5 percent overall from the field, while knocking down an impressive 81.8 percent of its shots from the stripe (27-33).
- ESU led the game in field goal percentage (47.5% to 43.6%), got to the foul-line more often and shot more efficiently (27-33 to 15-24 FT), rebounding (37-34), assists (17-12), steals (9-8), blocks (3-0) and turned the ball over less (24 turnovers to 18).
- The Warriors also held advantages in fastbreak points (23-9), points off turnovers (29-14), points in the paint (42-34) and second half points.
How It Happened
- After ESU took an early 4-2 lead following four points from McAliley, the Saints built a 20-11 advantage following an 18-7 scoring run. DYU shot 7-9 from the field during the stretch and forced four Warrior turnovers. The Saints built a game-high 10-point lead at 25-15 with 10:26 to play, but ESU fought back to a single-point at halftime. The relentless Warriors closed the final 9:23 of the first half with a 22-13 scoring run, with McAliley providing eight points. ESU's defense clamped DYU's offense through the final nine-plus minutes, with the Saints' mustering just a 28.6 field goal percentage during that span (4-14, 1-8 3PT).
- Following the intermission, it took ESU 16 seconds to tie the game and 24 seconds to retake the lead after a free throw from Nasir Griffin and a layup from Tyshawn Trail. Leading 60-57 with 8:01 remaining, the Warriors scored six unanswered points from a Jalen Pichardo hoop-and-harm layup, along with a triple from Trail extended the Warrior advantage to 10 at 69-59.
- After a Saints' triple cut the deficit to seven at 71-64, ESU put its foot on the gas after the final media timeout, closing the game on a 17-6 run for the final score of 88-70.
Up Next
- ESU returns to Koehler Fieldhouse for its PSAC and home-opening weekend against a pair of tough Erie foes in Mercyhurst (Fri., Dec. 1, 5:00 p.m.) and Gannon (Sat., Dec., 2, 3:00 p.m.) next week.
