Tobin, junior guard Russell Graham III (13 points, four rebounds, nine assists) and sophomore forward Duane Johnson (nine points, seven rebounds) all represented the Warriors on the All-Tournament team as the ESU posted a pair of double-figure victories.
ESU opened the Pocono Classic with an 81-68 win over Edinboro on Friday night led by double-doubles from Tobin (12 points, 12 rebounds) and Johnson (17 points, 11 boards). Tobin earned his second straight All-Tournament nod, and ESU has won eight straight games in the Pocono Classic since 2007.
Felician’s Devon Young was named the Tournament MVP after scoring 28 points against the Warriors to follow up a 15-point effort in a 70-59 win vs. Shippensburg on Friday. Young was 12-for-16 from the field on Saturday night and also had six rebounds, and Suquan Gary had 15 points and six boards.
Edinboro guard Byron Knight and Shippensburg forward Dylan Edgar rounded out the All-Tournament team. ESU was the only undefeated team on the men’s side of the Pocono Classic, while Edinboro and Felician were both 1-1 and Shippensburg was 0-2. Knight had 21 points and 11 rebounds in Edinboro’s 64-57 win over Shippensburg on Saturday.
ESU (4-1) and Felician (2-4) both played in the NCAA Division II Tournament last season and the first 13 minutes were as balanced as it could get, featuring seven ties and seven lead changes. Felician led 26-25 after a layup by Kashiff Foster with 7:04 remaining in the first half before the Warriors broke the game open, going on a 13-2 run over the next three minutes to take a 38-28 lead.
ESU stretched the lead to 16, capped by a three-pointer by Tobin for the last of his 15 first-half points, and led 52-38 at intermission. Felician managed to halfway into the deficit in the second half, pulling within 69-62 on a bucket by Young with 6:41 remaining, but Graham set up a layup by sophomore forward Marcus Brown and scored again after ESU got a defensive stop to push the lead back to double figures.
Graham’s nine assists were a season-high and helped ESU shoot 50 percent (29-for-58) from the field. Both teams were lights-out in the first half, with ESU shooting 54.3 percent and Felician shooting 66.7 percent, but the Golden Falcons’ efficiency was offset by 12 turnovers. ESU forced 18 turnovers in the game, amassing 11 steals, while turning the ball over just 11 times.
Tobin scored 10 of ESU’s first 12 points and had three rebounds and two steals in the first five minutes to set the tone. He put together his best two games of the young season over the weekend, collecting 29 points, 18 rebounds and 11 steals, while shooting 10-for-22 from the field and 8-for-8 at the foul line.
Senior guard Micah Covert scored 12 points and hit two of ESU’s six three-pointers and junior forward Eric Bryan (nine points) and senior guard Mike DeMarco (eight points) also helped carry the scoring load.
The Warriors’ back-to-back victories extend their regular season home non-conference winning streak to 25 games. ESU has three more home non-conference games left this season, beginning with the second meeting with Lock Haven this season on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The Warriors won 87-60 at Lock Haven on November 22.
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