GREENSBURG, PA. - Five Griffins - Malik McKinney, Milenko Predic, Nathan Davis, Trevor Blondin, and Brandon Alston - scored in double figures, but Seton Hill dropped an overtime thriller to East Stroudsburg, 84-67, in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference men's basketball action on Tuesday afternoon inside the McKenna Center.
// NOTABLES
• Seton Hill slips to 2-7 overall and 0-3 in the PSAC.
• ESU improves to 7-2 overall and 4-0 in the PSAC.
• SHU's 19 free-throws made and 28 attempts matches season highs.
• There were five ties and seven lead changes in the game.
• The Griffins held an 8-4 advantage in fast break points.
// LEADERS
• Malik McKinney led all scorers with 17 points on a 6-of-9 performance from the field, including 5-of-9 from the foul line. Milenko Predic had 14, Nathan Davis had 13, Trevor Blondin netted 12, and Brandon Alston chipped in 10 points. Alston led the rebounding effort with nine. Predic, Blondin, and Alston each dished out three assists. McKinney grabbed three steals.
// FIRST HALF
• Seton Hill jumped out to an early 5-3 lead just two minutes into the game with Malik McKinney scoring all five for the Griffins. That would be the largest point differential of any team until just 1:11 remaining in the half. After ESU's Steven Stoney's layup made it a one-point game, 26-24, a Milenko Predic layup on the other end pushed the lead back out to three, 27-24. A layup by Ryan Smith on the other end brought it back to one, but a three-ball from Trevor Blondin and a Predic jumper gave SHU the largest lead of the game, 32-26. ESU had a chance to cut into the lead, but a missed free-throw allows Seton Hill to run out the last few ticks on the clock to take that lead into halftime.
// SECOND HALF
• Buckets by McKinney and Predic on the first two possessions pushed that lead out to 10, 36-26, with 19:07 on the second half clock. However, ESU would go on a 9-1 run over the next seven minutes to make it 37-36 with 12:13 remaining. The two teams would battle back-and-forth until momentum seemed to swing in favor of Seton Hill.
• After Nick Giordano's jumper cut SHU's lead to 44-41 - and with the ball standing still on the court - Giordano drew a technical foul by launching the ball at the chest of the SHU in-bounder (Nathan Davis). Davis would hit both of the ensuing free-throws and put Seton Hill up by a score of 46-41, but the ESU bench was issued a technical foul after the shots. Davis made both of the shots to give Seton Hill a 48-41 lead with the ball. Seton Hill would get the ball down the court, but Davis was fouled at 9:40 remaining. After the whistle, Giordano earned another technical foul by swiping down at the ball in Davis' hands. Nathan would again make good on the free-throws, and score a layup to give SHU an 11 point lead, 52-41, with 9:15 to go. After the dust of the technical fouls had settled, Seton Hill had scored eight points with just five seconds taken off the clock and added another two 25 seconds later.
• The Griffins held on to that lead for the next eight minutes by slowing the pace of play, often grinding 26+ seconds out of each shot clock before even taking a shot. The Warriors would cut the lead to six, 60-54, but a three from Brandon Alston pushed the lead to nine, 63-54, with 1:36 remaining in the game. However, ESU make a 11-1 run over the next 1:29 that was capped off by an acrobatic three and a foul shot to give East Stroudsburg their first lead of the second half, 65-64, with just 00:07 remaining in the contest. A missed layup by Anthony Karabatsos was rebounded by Predic, and he was fouled on the put-back with 00:01 on the game clock. Predic would make one-of-two and send the game into overtime, 65-65.
// OT
• ESU caught fire in the extra frame, making 4-of-5 (80.0%) shots from the field and 10-of-12 (83.3%) from the foul line en route to the 84-67 win.
// NEXT UP
• Seton Hill takes on West Chester University tomorrow at 7:30 PM. The game will be broadcasted on the Seton Hill Stretch Internet Portal.
// FOLLOW US
Athletics.SetonHill.edu is your one-stop destination for all things SHU Athletics. The men's basketball team can be followed on Twitter (@SetonHillMBB) and Instagram (@SHUGriffins).
