IUP (regional host) website / NCAA Tournament bracket

Follow the Warriors with Andy Heimbach

GAME NOTES

EAST STROUDSBURG – East Stroudsburg University's record-setting men's basketball season will continue in the NCAA Division II Tournament, as the Warriors have been selected to the field of 64 teams for the second time in school history and will travel to Indiana, Pa. to play West Virginia State in the first round on Saturday.

The Warriors will take a 24-5 record, the school record for victories in a season, into the postseason and join the 1989-90 team as NCAA tournament participants.

ESU is seeded No. 5 in the Atlantic Regional and will match-up against No. 4 West Virginia State (28-3), the champion of the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, on Saturday night at 5 p.m. No. 1 IUP, which won the PSAC championship on Saturday night at Koehler Fieldhouse, hosts No. 8 Fairmont State in the other quarterfinal at 7 p.m.

On the other side of the bracket, No. 2 West Liberty will be the host institution and play No. 7 Alderson-Broaddus, and No. 3 Saint Augustine's, the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association champion, faces No. 6 Kutztown to wrap up the first round. The winners of the semifinals on Sunday (7 p.m.) will play for the regional championship on Tuesday on the floor of the highest seed remaining.

Ticket prices are set as follows: $8 for reserved seating, $6 for general admission and $4 for students with an identification card. A two-day pass for all three games (quarterfinals and semifinal) will be available for $14 for reserved seating, $10 for general admission and $6 for students.

Parents and fans may contact Donna Davis, Athletic Department secretary, at (570) 422-3642 to order tickets from the block allotted to ESU for the regional.

Eighth-year head coach Jeff Wilson has been a part of both of ESU's NCAA tournament teams, guiding the Warriors to the postseason this year and serving as an assistant coach under Sal Mentesana 20 years ago. The 1989-90 squad won its first round game over Slippery Rock, 99-98 in overtime, at Mercyhurst before falling to Gannon, 72-63, in the second round to finish a postseason run that included the only PSAC title in school history.

The highlights of the Warriors' 2009-10 season include their first PSAC East regular season championship and PSAC semifinal appearance since 1992, the longest undefeated start in school history at 13-0, and a national ranking for six straight weeks, rising to No. 12 on February 9.

ESU solidified its NCAA tournament spot with a 76-65 win over Cheyney in the PSAC quarterfinals on Tuesday at Koehler Fieldhouse and hosted the PSAC Final Four for the first time ever on Friday and Saturday. The Warriors fell to eventual champion IUP, 67-63, in the semifinals, and could earn another match-up with the Crimson Hawks next weekend.

Wilson and assistant coach Justin Potts took over a team that went 4-20 prior to their arrival in 2002-03, reached the .500 mark two years later and were in the PSAC playoffs for the first time in their fourth season at ESU. Since then, the Warriors have played in the conference tournament in four of the last five years, achieved the second national ranking in school history on January 12 this season and are now in the NCAA Division II Tournament.

This year's squad is one of the most balanced teams in the country, with nine players averaging at least 15 minutes per game and seven scoring at least 7.0 points per night.

Senior guards Andy Heimbach and Robby Pines and junior forward Mike Tobin, the Warriors' tri-captains, are the only players seeing more than 24 minutes per night. Heimbach leads ESU in scoring with 12.9 points per game and holds school records with 75 three-pointers this season and 235 for his career; Pines is in the top 10 in Division II with 6.4 assists per game and is fourth on the team in scoring (8.2 ppg) and rebounding (4.1 rpg); and Tobin is ESU's top rebounder (7.2 per game) and is second in scoring (10.3 ppg) on a team that averages nearly 80 points per game.

Freshman Terrance King has emerged as ESU's third-leading scorer with 8.9 points per game, averages 4.6 rebounds and is shooting 57.0 percent with 42 blocked shots, the third-most by a freshman in school history. Marcus Brown (7.0 ppg, 5.1 rpg) is the top freshman rebounder in the conference and second on the team, and Duane Johnson (6.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg) plays valuable minutes on the wing. The trio earned 11 of the 15 PSAC East Freshman of the Week awards, including the final eight of the season.

A pair of junior guards, Mike DeMarco and Micah Covert, give the Warriors three-point shooting to complement Heimbach's range. DeMarco has started 28 of ESU's 29 games, averages 7.8 points and is shooting 35 percent from long distance. Covert has scored 7.9 ppg off the bench with a 39 percent mark from behind the line.

Sophomore Eric Bryan has given ESU 5.0 points and 4.0 rebounds and solid post defense off the bench while sharing time with King, with Brown also playing the center spot at times this season.

Senior Preston Ritter (23 games) has also contributed at center, and freshman Gerald Bridges, Jr. (25 games) has hit several big three's off the bench while seeing time in the rotation at guard. Redshirt freshmen Ricky Bailey and Matt Labick round out the roster on a team that has exceeded all expectations this season.

The Warriors were picked sixth in the PSAC East preseason coaches poll and enter the postseason as one of the top eight teams in the Atlantic Region. They lost four senior starters off last year's team, with DeMarco and Heimbach the only returners with significant starting experience, but Pines and Tobin stepped up into starring roles and the addition of Covert (Harcum JC) and the four freshmen gave Wilson plenty of pieces to play in his 94-foot style.

The result has been a team that was second in the PSAC in scoring despite having just one player in the top 30 in the conference individually; a squad that outrebounded its opponents by 6.5 per game with its top rebounder, Tobin, measuring 6-4 and 185 pounds; and a point guard, Pines, who entered the season with three games of starting experience and took the Warriors to the NCAA Tournament with 187 assists, the second most in school history.

West Virginia State (28-3) has won 13 straight games and is coming off a 108-107 win over West Liberty for the WVIAC championship. The Yellow Jackets are led by a pair of 20-point scorers, Josh Miller (20.7 ppg) and Darren Jones (20.1 ppg), and average 95 points per game. They were third in Division II in scoring and second in three-pointers per game (11.1) in last week's national rankings.

ESU has never faced West Virginia State and is 4-9 against IUP and 0-2 against Fairmont State, its potential second-round opponents. The Warriors had won three straight against IUP before the Crimson Hawks' four-point win in the PSAC semifinals.

More information on Saturday's game, including a preview of the regional and complete game notes, will be released later this week on esuwarriors.com.


NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional

Site 1 – Indiana, Pa.
No. 1 IUP (28-2) vs. No. 8 Fairmont State (22-7)
No. 4 WV State (28-3) vs. No. 5 ESU (24-5)

Site 2 – West Liberty, W.V.
No. 2 West Liberty (27-2) vs. No. 7 Alderson-Broaddus (24-6)
No. 3 Saint Augustine's (26-4) vs. No. 6 Kutztown (23-7)

Quarterfinals – Saturday
Semifinals – Sunday
Regional final – Tuesday at highest remaining seed