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Lakeem McAliley
Dave Janosz

No. 15/5 Warriors Escape Mansfield with 80-79 Triumph in 12th Consecutive Road Win

ESU now holds sole possession of first place in the PSAC East with Lock Haven’s Loss at Millersville.

1/31/2024 10:57:00 PM

MANSFIELD, Pa. – Lakeem McAliley knocked down a go-ahead turnaround jump shot with eight seconds remaining, while Jaelen McGlone registered a block on the potential game-winning layup with just two seconds left, as the No. 15/5 East Stroudsburg University men's basketball team escaped Decker Gymnasium with an 80-79 victory over Mansfield on Wednesday night.

With the win, the Warriors (18-2, 12-2 PSAC) clinched a postseason berth in the PSAC Tournament and now sit in sole possession of first place in the PSAC East with Lock Haven's loss to Millersville. The Mounties (6-13, 4-10 PSAC) fall in its fourth consecutive contest.



Notables
  • McAliley poured in a game-high 28 points (10-19 FG), six rebounds, while registering five steals and a block on defense.
  • McAliley becomes the first Warrior since at least 2002-03 to register 20-plus points in five consecutive games. The Philadelphia native matched Whis Grant's four-game 20-point streak in 2013-14 against Kutztown on Monday. During the five-game stretch, McAliley is averaging 24.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 3.6 steals and 1.2 blocks. He's shooting at an efficient 62.2% from the floor, 43.8% from 3-point range and 82.8% from the line. With all the impressive statistics, McAliley has achieved the above averaging just 23.7 minutes per game.
  • Justin Paz registered 16 points (6-12 FG, 4-8 3PT) and distributed three assists. He enters Saturdays' game against Shepherd with 999 career points. He surpassed former teammate Marc Rodriguez (176 3-point field goals) for fifth all-time in program history in 3-pointers made, now with 179 triples.
  • Jaelen McGlone also reached double digits in points with 13. His block in the waning seconds helped ESU preserve the win.
  • Nasir Griffin, Jalen Pichardo and Cam Young each totaled six rebounds to clean the glass. Young totaled three steals and dished three assists.
  • The Mounties also had three double-figure scorers in Saraj Ali (17 pts), Idris Ali (16 pts) and Scott Woodring.
  • The contest featured 10 tied scores and 11 lead changes in the back-and-forth affair.
  • ESU extended its winning streak to five and its already program-record road winning streak to 12 in the victory.
  • With the win, ESU head coach Jeff Wilson picked up his 399th win, improving his head coaching record to 399-199. He looks to record his 400th career victory on Saturday at Koehler Fieldhouse against Shepherd.
  • The Warriors now lead the all-time series over the Mounties by a 78-73. ESU has earned victories in 11 consecutive meetings and 22 of the previous 24 dating back to Jan. 11, 2012.
How It Happened
  • After scoring the first points, the Mounties took momentum first, building an 16-8 advantage seven minutes into the contest. The Warriors sliced the deficit to just a single point at 22-21, before taking its second lead of the game at 28-26 following a 20-10 sprint from ESU. During the stretch, ESU sunk 8-9 from the field, with McAliley scoring 11 of the Warriors' 20 points in that span. A 3-pointer from Mansfield lifted the Mounties back to a slim lead, but Shamir Johnson countered with a triple of his own. Over the final six minutes, the Mounties outscored ESU by a slim 16-12 margin, taking a 42-40 lead over the Warriors into the locker room.
  • After the intermission, Mansfield scored 10 of the first 14 points in the second half to build a 52-44 advantage. ESU posted a 13-2 run to erase the deficit and take a 3-point lead, as the two squads continued to exchange points and leads. After a McGlone 3-pointer lifted ESU to a four-point edge with back-to-back triples, Mansfield used a 14-9 run to take a one-point lead at 79-78 with just over a minute remaining.
  • In the waning seconds, McAliley buried the go-ahead turnaround jumper to lift ESU back to a lead. As Mansfield rushed down the court, it looked like Ali Idris might register the game-winning layup, but McGlone swatted the attempt away. With just two seconds remaining, ESU forced a miss on a layup from Ali Saraj, as the Warriors escaped Mansfield with the win.
Up Next
ESU returns to Koehler Fieldhouse on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. against Shepherd. Join ESU in celebrating our talented women student-athletes throughout ESU's doubleheader against the Rams. Festivities are set to begin at 1:00 p.m.
 
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