December 8, 2009

EAST STROUDSBURG – East Stroudsburg University seniors Robby Pines and Mel Villano were named to the Lehigh Valley Small College Basketball Unsung Hero Team at the organization’s first media luncheon of the 2009-10 season on Tuesday.

Both guards were named to the All-Tournament team in their respective divisions at the 45th Annual Pocono Classic last weekend. The Warriors’ men won two games to improve to 6-0 for the first time since the 1991-92 season, while the women picked up their first victory of the year with a 70-35 win over Salem International.

Villano (Bethlehem/Freedom) is averaging career-highs with 10.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 3.4 steals in ESU’s first five games. The four-year starter has played all but 22 minutes so far this season and scored a career-high 17 points against Shippensburg in the Pocono Classic last Thursday, hitting three three-pointers and all eight of her free throws. Villano has three games with at least a dozen points this season and has started all 85 games she has played in for the Warriors.

Pines (Telford/Souderton) leads the men’s team in minutes played in his first season as the starting point guard and has the Warriors off to a 6-0 start. He was sixth in Division II in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.0) last season and has a 4.5 ratio this year, with 36 assists and just eight turnovers. Pines is putting up 8.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 2.5 steals and had two standout games in the Pocono Classic, with eight points, seven rebounds and 10 assists vs. Queens and a career-high 13 points against UDC.

The Warriors’ men host Penn State-Wilkes on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at Koehler Fieldhouse in their last action until after finals week. The women travel to Salem International for a tournament this weekend, and both teams will be back on the floor in the ECAC Holiday Classic at Caldwell College on December 19-20.