WEST CHESTER, Pa. — The ESU men's basketball team fell 95-87 to West Chester in the final regular season game of the 2025-26 campaign. The Warriors go into the postseason with a 14-7 conference record and 20-8 overall.
NOTABLES
- ESU's two star freshmen off the bench led the team in scoring, with Keni Williams scoring 18 points and Adrian Brito adding 16. Williams had one of the best performances of his season in 21 minutes, going 6-10 from the field and 2-3 from deep. Brito chipped in four rebounds while going 6-8 from the field.
- Ethan Maynard was the only other Warrior to reach double-figures, finishing with 12 points. Maynard came away with two steals on the defensive end as well.
- Jalen Pichardo nearly recorded a double-double, finishing with seven points and nine rebounds. Pichardo made two of his four attempts from the field and three of his four from the free-throw line.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- After an even first nine minutes of the game with the Warriors trailing 17-16, West Chester went on its first run of the game to pull further ahead. The Golden Rams used a 12-0 run in just two minutes of game time to take a 29-16 lead. ESU trimmed the deficit to five, and later made it just a one-point West Chester lead, but the Golden Rams surged ahead again once it got close. During the final four minutes of the first half, West Chester went on a 17-6 run to go into the break with a 51-39 lead.
- The Golden Rams kept ESU at bay for the first half of the final 20 minutes, but ESU made up ground and got within striking distance. An offensive rebound by Pichardo turned into a second-chance three-pointer by Maynard to make it 65-60, and after another five minutes, the Warriors made it a one-possession game.
- Trailing 77-71, Brito made a layup down low and the ensuing free throw, making it 77-74 with 5:01 remaining. West Chester matched the Warriors' scoring and began to outpace them, though, eventually pulling away down the stretch to take it 95-87.
GAME NOTES
- ESU fell to the fourth seed in the PSAC East, with its path to a conference championship being a home game in the first round on Monday. The winner of that game will take on the No. 1 seed in the west, Gannon, before the conference semifinals, which will be hosted by the highest-seeded remaining west team.
UP NEXT
ESU hosts Shippensburg at 7:30 p.m. in Koehler Fieldhouse on Monday night.
