EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. — The Warriors tied their season-high in scoring with an 18-point victory over Mansfield at home Wednesday night, winning 106-88. The win moves ESU to 11-6 in conference, good for third place in the PSAC East.
NOTABLES
- Nasir Griffin had his second 20-point performance of the season, scoring 22 for the Warriors in 24 minutes. Griffin shot 6-9 from the field and 2-4 from deep, adding eight more points while shooting 80.0% from the free-throw line.
- Ethan Maynard had another strong outing, as he's totaled 37 points between his last two games. Maynard's 19 points tonight were second-most on the Warriors, only trailing Griffin, as he went 7-15 from the field with four three-pointers.
- Jalen Pichardo came two rebounds shy of a double-double, finishing with 16 points and eight rebounds. Only three of Pichardo's boards came on the offensive glass tonight, but he was a reliable cleanup and post option offensively, going 7-9 from the field.
- Adrian Brito is getting back into a consistent scoring rhythm, chipping in with 15 points against the Mountaineers. Brito posted a typical 60.0% field goal percentage with four offensive rebounds and two blocks.
- Saleem Payne followed up his best game as a scorer last time with a great performance as a passer versus Mansfield. Payne recorded a team-high seven assists and was tied with Ethan Millirons for the most steals for ESU with three.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Unlike the two teams' first meeting, Mansfield kept the game close in the first half. The Mountaineers actually led for a quarter of the opening 20 minutes, with the margin never exceeding eight points either way. The Mountaineers shot well from three-point range, going 7-14, with Darrien Berrios Rivera and Juju Pagan accounting for 30 of Mansfield's 51 points. The Warriors built up the largest lead of the half, 50-42, with two minutes remaining, but Mansfield closed the gap to make it 55-51 ESU at halftime.
- After Pagan got the first two points of the second half for Mansfield, ESU put its foot on the gas during the next two minutes. Bookended by three-pointers by Maynard, the Warriors extended their lead to 65-53 with a 10-0 run. Mansfield would respond twice to get their deficit to under 10 points, but a 15-4 stretch over the middle section of the half pushed ESU's lead to 20 points, making the score 93-73 with 7:28 to go.
- The two teams nearly matched each other's scoring the rest of the way with the Warriors preventing the Mountaineers from making a final push, ending with a 106-88 victory.
GAME NOTES
- ESU has now scored 106 three times this season, most recently at home against Bloomsburg on Jan. 13, and for the first time at Molloy on Dec. 2.
- Mansfield's 25 turnovers were the second-most an opponent has committed against ESU this season. On offense, ESU scored 42 points off of them.
UP NEXT
The Warriors are back at Koehler Fieldhouse again this weekend looking for revenge against Shippensburg. The game is set to tip off at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 14.
