RELEASE DATE: 2/4/04

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: EAST STROUDSBURG STUNS MANSFIELD 84-81 – BRETT LONGPRE’ SCORES GAME HIGH 30 POINTS

MANSFIELD – East Stroudsburg raced out to an eight point halftime lead and held on down the stretch to beat nationally ranked Mansfield 84-81 in PSAC East basketball action Wednesday night at Decker Gymnasium.

Mansfield, ranked 23^rd in the nation in the latest NCAA Division II poll, fell behind early and trailed 33-21 at the 7:57 mark before closing the gap to 42-34 at intermission. The Mountaineers, the top ranked rebounding team in the PSAC, were out rebounded 25-5 over the first 20 minutes of the contest.

Mansfield came out strong in the first five minutes of the second half to pull to 53-52 on a dunk by Omari Pearson. But East Stroudsburg, as they did all night, refused for fold going on a 10-2 run to increase its lead to 63-54 three minutes later.

The Mountaineers would make another run in the final minutes of the game, pulling to 78-77 with 2:33 to go when Pearson hit a lay-up and ensuing foul shots.

East Stroudsburg then went a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line over the final 2:30 of the game to preserve the win. Mansfield missed two free throws with five seconds left and then Brett Longpre’ long 3-point tying shot hit the front end of the rim as the buzzer sounded.

Mansfield was never able to make up the rebounding deficit losing the battle of the boards for the game by a 41-24 margin. The Mountaineers, who also ranked first in the PSAC in free throw shooting, connected on just 11-20 attempts while East Stroudsburg was 22-28 from the line.

The loss overshadowed an outstanding performance for Longpre’ who scored a game high 30 points including seven 3-pointers. Pearson had 21 points and eight rebounds. Bill McNeil 11 added 11 points.

Rich Baker topped East Stroudsburg (12-9, 3-3) with 24 points.

It marked the first home loss of the season for the Mountaineers and snapped a 12 game home winning streak going back to last season.