ESU Basketball Notes vs. Cheyney
PSAC Quarterfinals
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
7 p.m., Koehler Fieldhouse

Media Guide / Season and Career Highs

THE MATCH-UP: ESU (23-4, 10-4), the No. 2 seed in the PSAC East, hosts No. 3 seed Cheyney (16-11, 9-5) in the PSAC men's basketball quarterfinals on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. The Warriors won the first two meetings this season, 77-73 at Cheyney on January 23 and 63-55 (OT) at home on February 20. ESU earned a share of the PSAC East regular season championship with Mansfield, its first regular season title since 1991-92.

THE PSAC TOURNAMENT FIELD: East – No. 1 Mansfield (19-8, 10-4) vs. No. 4 Kutztown (21-6, 8-6); No. 2 ESU (23-4, 10-4) vs. No. 3 Cheyney (16-11, 9-5); West – No. 1 IUP (25-2, 13-1) vs. No. 4 Gannon (13-14, 8-6), No. 2 Clarion (17-10, 9-5) vs. No. 3 Mercyhurst (18-9, 8-6).

The top seed remaining in the PSAC East after Tuesday will host the semifinals and finals on Friday and Saturday (March 5-6). Semifinal games will be played at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. and the final will be played at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

RECORD-SETTING SEASON: ESU has tied the school record for wins in a season, matching the 1972-73 team with an identical 23-4 record. The Warriors have put together the sixth 20-win season in school history and reached a number of milestones along the way:
* 13-0 start was the longest undefeated start in school history
* 19-1 start was the best 20-game record in school history
* Nationally-ranked for six straight weeks (No. 12 on February 9)
* Nationally-ranked for the second time in school history (one week in 1991-92)

ESU vs. CHEYNEY: ESU swept the regular season series vs. Cheyney for the first time since 1997-98 and will face the Wolves for the ninth time in the last three seasons, with Cheyney holding a 5-3 advantage. They met four times in 2007-08, including Cheyney's 71-69 win in the Warriors' most recent PSAC playoff appearance. Cheyney won both meetings by three points last season.

ESU is 4-1 vs. Cheyney in the last five meetings at Koehler Fieldhouse:

2009-10 – W 63-55 (OT)
2008-09 – L 59-56
2007-08 – W 88-85 (2OT)
2006-07 – W 60-56
2005-06 – W 75-71

In the first meeting this year, ESU used a 9-0 run late in the game and a 25-for-31 performance at the foul line in the second half for a 77-73 win on the road. Sr. G Andy Heimbach scored 11 points to go over 1,000 for his career and hit a jumper to spark the run that allowed the Warriors to stay ahead and improve to 16-1 on the season. ESU was 30-for-37 at the free throw line for the contest.

In the second match-up, Jr. F Mike Tobin had 17 points and nine rebounds and Fr. F Terrance King recorded his first career double-double with 11 points and 13 boards as ESU won 63-55 in overtime. Cheyney rallied from a 16-point second half deficit to send the game into OT tied at 49-all before the Warriors owned the extra session, led by eight points and five rebounds from Tobin and King.

SCOUTING CHEYNEY: The Wolves' 16-11 record includes two wins over Kutztown and an 88-84 (2OT) win vs. IUP for one of the Crimson Hawks' two losses this season. Cheyney was 0-4 against ESU and Mansfield and 9-1 against the rest of the PSAC East, but is coming off a 73-71 home loss to Shippensburg on Saturday.

Sharif Bray is the PSAC's second-leading scorer with 21.6 points per game and is first in free throw percentage (85.5) with the third-most makes (153) in the PSAC. The guard-oriented Wolves also feature Tamir Smith (13.6 ppg), a former All-PSAC selection, and Kevin Presbery (13.0 ppg), who is shooting 49 percent from the three-point line.

Cheyney leads the PSAC in three-point percentage (37.8), ranks third in three's per game (6.6) and second in turnover margin (+4.1) while averaging just 12.0 turnovers per game, the fewest in the conference.

ESU IN THE PSAC PLAYOFFS: The Warriors will be making their fourth appearance in the PSAC playoffs in the last five years (2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010) and the 11th in school history. They have made three semifinal appearances (1990, 1991 and 1992) and advanced the finals for the only time in 1989-90 to win the only PSAC title in school history. ESU is 4-9 all-time in the PSAC playoffs and is looking for its first postseason win since 1991. The Warriors are playing at home for the first time since 1998 and are 2-1 in home playoff games.

ESU IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: The PSAC champion will earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament. The Atlantic Region will send eight teams to the field of 64. ESU has been in all five regional rankings this year, rising as high as No. 2 on February 10, and was No. 5 in last week's rankings which are released each Wednesday. The NCAA Tournament field will be announced on Sunday, March 7 at approximately 9:30 p.m. ESU made the only NCAA Tournament appearance in school history in 1989-90.

HEAD COACH JEFF WILSON: Jeff Wilson, a 1986 ESU graduate, is in his eight season as the Warriors' head coach has been a member of the ESU men's basketball program as a player, assistant coach and head coach for 21 of the last 27 years.

Wilson has a career record of 124-94, which includes a 91-47 record (.659) and four PSAC playoff berths in the last five seasons. The 91 wins are tied for the most in a five-year stretch in school history (1989-90 through 1993-94). He was an assistant coach for 10 years, including nine years under Sal Mentesana from 1987-88 to 1995-96.

ESU IN THE PSAC RANKINGS: The Warriors' team rankings in the conference include 2nd in scoring (79.8), 3rd in scoring defense (64.9), 1st in scoring margin (+14.9), 2nd in free throw percentage (71.6), 1st in assists (16.4), 1st in three-point percentage defense (28.9), 2nd in field goal percentage defense (39.8), 2nd in rebounding margin (+6.5), 3rd in turnover margin (+2.7), 1st in turnovers forced (18.0) and 3rd in steals (8.5).

BALANCED WARRIORS: ESU has one of the most balanced teams in the country, with its top scorer (Heimbach, 12.8 ppg) ranked 25th in the PSAC and top rebounder (Tobin, 7.2 rpg) ranked 13th.

The Warriors have nine players averaging at least 15 minutes per game and eight averaging at least 7.0 points per game. In conference play, the averages go to 17.4 minutes per game with all nine players scoring at least 5.7 points. ESU had 49 double-figure scorers in 14 games vs. the PSAC East, with at least two by all nine players in the regular rotation.

SENIOR LEADERS: Sr. G Robby Pines leads ESU with 34.7 minutes per game in conference games and is in the top four in the PSAC in four categories – assists (1st, 6.3), assist-to-turnover ratio (2nd, 2.3), steals (3rd, 2.3) and free throw percentage (4th, 78.6). He is in his only year as a full-time starter after ranking 6th in Division II with a 3.0 assist-to-turnover ratio last season.

Pines is one of four players to rank in the top 20 in Division II in both assists and steals. He is 4th in school history with 171 assists this season, 8th with 288 assists for his career, tied for 5th in single-season steals with 63, and four away from the top 10 in career steals with 117.

Heimbach holds ESU records for three-pointers in a season (68) and career (228) and has 1,120 career points, 16th in school history. He is shooting 85.2 percent at the foul line and 37.2 percent from long distance this season while scoring in double figures in 19 games, including 10 vs. the PSAC East. Heimbach was ESU's leading returning scorer with 9.7 points per game and averaged 11.7 points as a sophomore.

THE STARTING FIVE: Tobin, King and Jr. G Mike DeMarco join Pines and Heimbach in the Warriors' starting five. ESU is getting 47.4 points per game from its starters this season for 59 percent of its scoring.

Tobin is averaging 10.3 points and 7.2 rebounds per game during a breakout season which includes the first three double-doubles of his career. He has posted team-highs of 11.6 points and 7.4 rebounds in conference games and hit double figures nine times, including twice against Cheyney (13.5 ppg, 7.0 rpg).

DeMarco is in his second year as a starter and scored a season-high 19 points at West Chester on Saturday. He has averaged 7.7 points in both of the last two seasons and is shooting 35 percent from the three-point line this year and 79 percent at the foul line for his career.

King leads all PSAC freshmen in scoring (8.8 ppg), field goal percentage (56.2) and blocks (1.4 per game) and has emerged as a post presence during the conference schedule. A five-time PSAC East Freshman of the Week, King averaged 9.1 points and 5.5 rebounds and shot 62 percent from the field in conference games, including 11 points and 13 rebounds in the OT win vs. Cheyney.

OFF THE BENCH: Jr. G Micah Covert, So. F Eric Bryan, Fr. F Marcus Brown and Fr. F Duane Johnson are the Warriors' key contributors off the bench.

Covert is fifth on the team in scoring (7.9 ppg) and has hit double figures nine times this season while playing 20 minutes per game. Bryan gives the Warriors 5.2 points and 3.8 rebounds in 16 minutes per game as the backup center behind King.

Johnson is one of ESU's top perimeter defenders and is averaging 7.3 points and 3.7 rebounds per game, and Brown is the Warriors' second-leading rebounder (5.1 per game) while scoring 7.0 points.

FRESHMEN OF THE WEEK: King (5), Johnson (3) and Brown (2) have combined to earn 10 of the first 14 PSAC East Freshmen of the Week awards this year. The trio averaged 23.1 points, 13.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game in the regular season and Johnson and Brown provided 44 percent of the Warriors' bench scoring.