West Chester Men Fall In PSAC Championship Game, 90-85

The following is a press release from the West Chester University Athletic Department.

Lance McDowell scored a team-high 18 points, and Corey Blake added another 16, however, visiting East Stroudsburg prevailed, 90-85, in the 2012 PSAC Men's Basketball Tournament championship game in front of a packed Hollinger Field House crowd of 1,405 deafening fans Saturday night.

West Chester (19-10) saw its season-high 10-game winning streak come to an end with the loss. East Stroudsburg (20-11)  advances to the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament for the third time in school history. Warriors forward Terrence King (26 points) was the tournament's most valuable player.

East Stroudsburg scored 51 points in the second half, going 23-for-31 from the foul line, and outscored West Chester by 10 to erase a five-point halftime lead and wrestle away the conference trophy from the Golden Rams. West Chester outrebounded East Stroudsburg, 44-35, and shot 50 percent from the field for the game (32 of 64). But, the Warriors went to the foul line 41 times in the game and converted 29 of those attempts.

"We didn't execute," WCU head coach Damien Blair said. "That is a credit to East Stroudsburg. They took us out of our stuff and played really physical. We struggled to get into some of our sets. That was the difference in the game, I thought."

Four players for ESU finished in double figures. Duane Johnson scored 19 points, Russell Graham III 16 points and Eric Bryan posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Warriors.

Carl Johnson scored 14 points, Jon Breeden 11 and Troy Hockaday 10 as West Chester landed five players in double digits. Blake added six rebounds and four assists to his totals.

NOTES: West Chester is now 0-3 in PSAC Championship Games ... the Golden Rams also dropped the title games in 1998 and 2001 ... West Chester's 19 wins are the most in a single season in head coach Damien Blair's four years ... freshman Corey Blake scored 30 points and grabbed 17 rebounds in the semifinals and finals combined ... he was 9-for-10 from the foul line in the two games as well.