EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. — A
Keni Williams layup in the final seconds of the game willed the ESU men's basketball team past Shepherd on Saturday evening, winning 74-72. With the win, the Warriors jumped to a tie for first place in the division with a 4-3 in-conference record.
NOTABLES
- ESU had five players in double figures, with Williams being one of them. The freshman finished with 12 points on 5-11 shooting from the field. Williams scored 10+ points for the eighth time this season and second time in as many games.
- Adrian Brito led the Warriors in scoring after a perfect outing from the field, putting up 15 points. Brito made all seven of his field goal attempts, adding eight rebounds, two assists, and one block and steal each to round out his stat line.
- Ethan Maynard tied Williams in points with another 12 for ESU, making a pair of crucial three-pointers down the stretch. He shot 3-6 from distance, finishing with a 50.0% three-point percentage in consecutive games.
- Saleem Payne and Carson Howard contributed 10 points, as it was Payne's first time hitting that mark as a Warrior. Payne had his best offensive performance of the season, going 4-7 from the field and 2-3 from deep. Howard went perfect from the free-throw line, going 6-6.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The game was fairly even in the opening 10 minutes, but ESU broke the game open, with a 17-4 run. Williams started the run with a layup off an assist from Brito, but from that point on, the Warriors' offense ran through Payne and Brito. The two scored ESU's next 15 points, going 6-6 from the field and 3-3 three from behind the arc. Brito's layup from a Nasir Griffin assist made it 36-21 with just under six minutes before halftime.
- However, the Warriors' offense hit a lull to end the half, allowing Shepherd to chip away at its deficit. ESU didn't score in the final 3:50 of the first half, and Shepherd battled back to make it 38-30 at the break.
- The Rams gradually made up ground until they took their first lead in over 25 minutes of game time, using an 18-9 run and a three-pointer from Brody Davis to take a 48-47 lead with 12:18 remaining. The Warriors did a great job of responding, scoring 13 of the next 16 points to retake and reestablish the lead.
- Shepherd would not go away easily, using a balanced offensive attack from five different Rams to put an 18-7 run together and take a 69-67 lead going into the final two minutes of regulation. Maynard made his second three-pointer of the last three minutes on the next possession, and Howard nailed a pair of free throws to go up three points with under a minute left. The Rams got two stops on defense and made three free throws to tie the game at 72-72, setting up for a final possession to avoid overtime.
- Maynard inbounded the ball at the edge of the scorers table, bouncing it to a curling Williams cutting towards the baseline. Williams got the angle on his defender and muscled his way to the rim for the game-winning layup with 1.6 seconds left on the clock.
GAME NOTES
- ESU spent an even 36 minutes with the lead, holding advantages in bench points (39-6), points in the paint (38-26), and second chance points (21-9).
- There were very few free throws for both teams attempted in the game, as Shepherd took 16 and ESU only had 11 attempts. The Warriors went 9-11 from the charity stripe, posting their best free throw percentage in a game with 81.8%.
UP NEXT
ESU is back at Koehler Fieldhouse on Tuesday evening, continuing a stretch of four games in eight days with a matchup against Bloomsburg. The Warriors take on the 4-9 Huskies at 7:30 p.m.
