Tuesday - Atlantic Region final
7pm - ESU vs Shippensburg
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ETTRICK, Va. - East Stroudsburg University will play for the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region men's basketball championship on Tuesday night after outscoring West Chester by 19 points in the second half in a 90-76 win in the second round on Sunday night at Virginia State.

ESU (26-5), which won its 12th straight game, advances to the regional final for the third time in school history and will play Shippensburg, the No. 5 seed which upended No. 1 Virginia State 77-58, on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Ship took apart West Liberty, 98-66, in its opener on Saturday night.

The Warriors are pursuing their first regional title in program history, finishing as East Region runner-up in 1990 and Atlantic Region runner-up in 2014.

Shippensburg is also seeking its first region title and had its first NCAA Tournament win last year in reaching the second round. This marks the first All-PSAC regional final since 2009, when Gannon topped Kutztown in its first season in the conference.

ESU, the No. 2 seed, advanced past No. 7 seed Gannon 78-69 in the first round on Saturday. West Chester (22-7), the No. 6 seed, upended No. 3 Wheeling Jesuit, 82-77.

ESU outpaced West Chester 49-30 in the second half after trailing 46-41 at intermission. The Warriors opened the second half on an 8-0 run, which they extended to 13-2, to turn the tide in a game that WCU led for most of the first half.

Redshirt senior forward Steve Harris scored 10 of his 15 points in the second half, sophomore forward Kobi Nwandu also had 15, redshirt sophomore guard Jakwan Jones had 10 points along with six assists and four steals, junior guard Nick Giordano scored 10, redshirt junior forward Josh Williams and freshman guard Marc Rodriguez netted nine each, senior guard Ryan Krawczeniuk and sophomore guard Montrel Morgan had eight and senior forward Ralik Wise scored six - leading ESU's patented scoring effort which ranks fourth in DII with more than 93 points per game.

Frank Rokins scored 16 points, Jackson Hyland had 14 points and 15 rebounds and Matt Penecale had 13 points and five assists - all in the first half - for West Chester, which opened the season 12-0 and split the first two meetings with ESU, winning 76-74 on its floor on January 17 with ESU winning 111-101 on its floor on February 17.

ESU's 12-game winning streak includes seven wins over teams with at least 18 victories - two wins over Kutztown (21-7), two over West Chester (22-7), two over Gannon (22-10) - the PSAC championship game and the Atlantic Region first round - and a victory over Edinboro (18-11) in the PSAC semifinals.

The Warriors led early - 5-0 in the first 48 seconds and 10-4 through the opening 2:30 - but West Chester came back with a 15-5 run to seize the lead, which it maintained through the rest of the opening half.

The WCU advantage reached nine (43-34) before a 7-0 ESU run, but Penecale hit a three for the last of his 13 first-half points for a 46-41 margin at the break.

It was all ESU in the first four minutes of the second half, and the Warriors never trailed from that point. Morgan and Giordano scored, Nwandu hit two free throws and then a layup for an 8-0 run, then Morgan hit a three and Wise scored while WCU went 0-for-4 with two turnovers on its opening possessions as ESU led 54-48.

WCU scored five straight to close within 54-53, but eight more for the Warriors - two buckets by Williams, a follow dunk and two free throws by Harris - stretched it back to 62-53 for ESU's biggest lead at the 11:24 mark.

A three by Morgan, his second of the second half, ended a 5-0 West Chester run, and after WCU scored four straight 90 seconds later, Nwandu converted a three-point play.

Harris, who had 13 of his 22 points in the second half on Saturday vs. Gannon, scored on two straight trips for a 75-65 lead with 7:04 left, and Giordano drained a long three to get it to 13 (78-65) with 6:15 remaining.

The Warriors closed the game from there and improved to 13-1 vs. West Chester when scoring 85+ points in the last nine seasons (17-5 overall vs. the Golden Rams).

ESU shot 44.8 percent (30-for-67) overall and 33.3 percent (10-for-30) from the three-point line, compared to 41.3 percent (26-for-63) from the field and just 22.2 percent (4-for-18) from long distance for West Chester. Both teams made 20 free throws.

The Warriors had a 24-14 advantage in turnovers after entering second in DII in turnovers forced (21.8 per game) and turnover margin (+7.1).

WCU had a 45-33 advantage on the glass, after Gannon posted a 47-26 margin in Saturday's first round game, but ESU's shot-making and forced turnovers in the open court helped put both games out of reach.

Rodriguez hit a personal milestone with his three three-pointers, all in the first half, setting ESU's freshman record (56) to surpass the previous mark of 54 set by Whis Grant as the leading scorer during the 2012 PSAC championship season.

ESU, making its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance in the last nine years, pushed its win total to 26 - second-most in school history behind the 2014 Atlantic Region runner-up team that went 30-2.

ESU and Shippensburg split their season series with each school winning on its home floor. The Warriors prevailed 90-79 on January 3, ending the game on a 14-3 run over the final four minutes. Ship won 89-64 on January 31, ESU's last loss before its 12-game winning streak, including 5-0 in postseason games.

Tuesday's Atlantic Region champion will advance to the Elite Eight, held March 20-24 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.


GAME NOTES
* ESU's 26 wins are the 2nd-most in school history:
30-2 - 2013-14
26-5 - 2017-18
24-6 - 2009-10

* ESU is making its 6th NCAA DII Tournament appearance in program history, and 5th in the last 9 years:
1990 (regional runner-up), 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014 (regional runner-up), 2018

* ESU's 5 NCAA Tournament appearances since 2010 are tied for 3rd-most in the Atlantic Region:
9 - West Liberty
7 - IUP
5 - ESU, Fairmont State

* ESU ranks 3rd in the Atlantic Region in wins in the last 9 years:
272 - West Liberty
234 - IUP
196 - ESU

* ESU improved to 19-0 when scoring 90+ points this season (entered weekend 4th in DII with 93.5 ppg)
* ESU improved to 18-1 when making 9+ 3-pointers in a game

* Tuesday's Atlantic Region final will be the first All-PSAC match-up since 2008 and 2009
2008 - California 64, Millersville 52
2009 - Gannon 84, Kutztown 73

* R-Jr. G Jakwan Jones moved into ESU's career top 10 in assists and steals.
Assists - 10th (296)
Steals - t-10th (127)

* Jr. G Kitt Najee Walls entered the top 10 in career assists earlier this season.
5th (364)

* Jones (179) and Walls (100) both have 100 assists this season.
Jones - 6th on ESU's single-season list

* Jones/Walls - 2nd set of ESU teammates with 100+ assists
2015 - Matt Tobin (178) and Whis Grant (103)