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EAST STROUDSBURG - East Stroudsburg University used an 18-4 run midway through the first half to take a commanding lead and won the fourth PSAC men's basketball championship in program history, and third in the last seven years, with an 89-67 win over Gannon on Sunday at Koehler Fieldhouse.

ESU (24-5) won its 10th straight game and added the 2018 title to championships in 1990, 2012 and 2014 - the last three under 16th-year head coach Jeff Wilson, who was an assistant coach on the 1990 team.

Redshirt senior forward Steve Harris scored his 1,000th career point in the final minute and was named PSAC Tournament MVP with 11 points and nine rebounds in the championship game, and 17 points and 12 rebounds in a 98-75 win over Edinboro in the semifinals late Saturday night.

Junior guard Nick Giordano scored 15 points, redshirt junior guard Jakwan Jones had 14, redshirt junior forward Josh Williams posted 13 and Harris had 11 along with his nine rebounds.

Junior guard Kitt Najee Walls had nine points and five assists and senior guard Ryan Krawczeniuk scored nine on three three-pointers in the first half.

Jair Green scored 25 points, Evan Phoenix had 13 points and 14 rebounds and Zay Jackson had 13 for Gannon (22-9), the PSAC West No. 2 seed, which won PSAC championships in 2009 and 2015.

The Warriors earn the PSAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament, marking their sixth NCAA appearance in school history and fifth since 2010 (1990, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2018).

The 64-team field for the NCAA DII Tournament, including the eight-team Atlantic Regional, will be released at 10:30 p.m. on ncaa.com.

ESU is the first school to win both of its PSAC Final Four games with 20+ points since the conference went to a semifinal format in 1981 - a 23-point margin vs. Edinboro, and a 22-point final vs. Gannon.

The Warriors' 22-point margin in the final was the fifth-largest since the tournament was first contested in 1961.

ESU shot 51.6 percent (32-for-62), including 10-for-23 from the three-point line, against a Gannon team that entered the weekend as the PSAC leader in scoring defense (64.6 ppg) and fifth in field goal percentage defense (43.2).

The Warriors entered averaging 93.5 points per game, fourth in DII, and scored 187 points in its two games at Koehler Fieldhouse in less than 24 hours. Saturday night's semifinal tipped off just after 9 p.m., and Sunday's championship game was a 5 p.m. start.

Gannon shot 41.7 percent (25-for-60), 2-for-11 from long distance and 15-for-26 at the free throw line. Green led Gannon with 25 points but was just 6-for-14 at the line.

ESU started the game on a 12-2 run, including three's by Giordano and Krawczeniuk, and led throughout.

After Gannon pulled within 16-12, ESU embarked on its 18-4 run over almost nine minutes - sparked by two three's in a 30-second span by Krawczeniuk - to lead 34-16 at the three-minute mark of the first half.

ESU's largest lead of the second half was 25 points (61-36) with 13 minutes left, and Gannon never got closer than 15 the rest of the way.

Harris, first team All-PSAC East, became the 31st 1,000-point scorer in program history with a three-point play with 50.7 seconds left for ESU's final points, after entering the night with 989 career points.

Jones, second team All-PSAC East, and Walls combined for 23 points and seven assists in the championship game after notching 19 points and nine assists vs. Edinboro on Saturday night.

The Warriors improve to 15-2 at home this season, 13-2 in home postseason games under Wilson and 11-1 in home PSAC Tournament games.

They also won the 2014 PSAC title at Koehler Fieldhouse vs. West Chester, 92-80, and captured the 2012 title at West Chester, 90-85.

ESU improves to 4-0 all-time in PSAC championship games. Gannon suffered its first PSAC title game loss after winning in 2009 and 2015.

The Warriors faced Gannon in the postseason for the second time under Wilson, previously winning 66-58 in the second round of the 2014 Atlantic Regional at Koehler Fieldhouse. This marked their first PSAC postseason meeting.

Gannon won the first match-up this year, 71-64, on December 9 at Koehler to hand ESU its first loss after a 7-0 start.

ESU entered the final with Harris (14.9 ppg), sophomore forward Kobi Nwandu (12.6 ppg) and Giordano (11.7 ppg) as the top three scorers on a team that eclipsed the 90-point mark in 17 of its first 28 games, including 10 100-point games.

The Warriors got to 89 points vs. Gannon with just four double-figure scorers, but two added nine and sophomore guard Montrel Morgan (7 points), freshman guard Marc Rodriguez (6 points), Nwandu (3 points) and senior forward Ralik Wise (2 points) also contributed to the standard 10-man rotation.

GAME NOTES
* Harris is the 6th member of ESU's 2014 PSAC championship team (finished 30-2) to score 1,000 career points:
1,860 - Whis Grant (2011-15)
1,677 - Rasheed Moore (2013-17)
1,118 - Jamal Nwaniemeka (2013-16)
1,077 - Will Brown (2010-12, 14-16)
1,042 - Matt Tobin (2011-15)
1,000 - Steve Harris (2013-18)

* Warriors teams improve to 48-17 all-time in PSAC championship games (11-2 in last 6 years; 27-7 in last 25 years)

* ESU has won 3 PSAC championships in the same academic year (MBB, MSOC, WSOC) for the 4th time in school history, and first time since 1995:
1968-69 - FB, MTEN, BASE
1976-77 - FB, MSOC, MTEN
1994-95 - MSOC, WSOC, WBB
2017-18 - MSOC, WSOC, MBB

* PSAC's automatic bid gives ESU 4 teams qualifying for NCAA DII Tournaments this academic year - just the 2nd time in school history
2009-10 - FB, FH, MBB, WTEN
2017-18 - MSOC, WSOC, FH, MBB