Youngstown State University had a choice to make going into their contest with Valparaiso.  They could either sulk after a loss to Butler or they could respond positively for hanging with the #15 team in the country.  The Penguins chose to respond positively and played hard but lost 77-75 to Valpo.  The Crusaders have owned the Penguins and have not lost to a Youngstown team since 2000.

The loss left Coach Jerry Slocum searching for answers.  “I thought it was a great basketball game and that our kids played well.  You’re not going to have 16 turnovers and win basketball games.  The hurtful thing about it is that I thought our kids played hard this week.  They gave all they had against Butler and again tonight.  It hurts me as a coach to see that kind of effort and to come up empty.”

Early on, it was the Vytas Sulskis show.  Sulskis was 3-4 from three-point land and had 11 points in the first ten minutes.  The 6’7″ Lithuanian put YSU ahead of Valpo 19-12 with 7:33 left in the first half.  The 12 points for the Crusaders had to be disturbing as they were leading the conference in scoring with almost 73 points per game.

Brandon Wood nailed a three to give Valpo a 23-19 lead as the Penguins went cold after their blazing start.  A Sulskis jumper just inside the foul line and a DeAndre Mays bucket tied the game at 23-23 with 3:15 remaining in the half.  Cory Johnson tied things back up at 27 apiece when he hit a layup and was fouled.

At the half, Youngstown State trailed Valpo 30-28. Sulskis had 13 first-half points for the Penguins, but was hampered with three fouls which may have cut in on his minutes.  Valpo was paced by Brandon Wood’s 12 points.

With 15:35 left in the second half, the Crusaders got a basket from Cory Johnson and YSU answered when Eddie D’Haiti ran the lane and delivered a crowd-pleasing two-handed dunk. Valpo held a 42-40 lead when Ashen Ward hit a two from just inside the arc to vault YSU into a tie. The Penguins would take the lead, 44-42, at the 13:21 mark when D’Haiti first kept a possession alive with an offensive rebound and then hit a pair of free throws, the first two attempted by the Penguins in the contest.

Mays hit a baseline jumper with 9:32 left to give YSU a 53-51 lead. However, on YSU’s next possession, Mays was swatted by Matt Kenney who took the ball three-quarters of the court for a layup. At the 7:37 mark, Valpo held a one-point lead at 56-55.

Wood put Valpo up 62-57 with a three.  Valpo, to this point, was shooting a blistering 9-15 from three-point land.  Kelvin Bright tied the game with his second dunk of the game.  With 4:45 left both teams had 62 points.

Sulskis was in a different zone on this night, he topped his season-high with 24 points and tied his yearly high with nine rebounds.  Matt Kenney had a dunk with 35 seconds left in the game to give Valpo a 73-72 lead.  Kenney was then intentionally fouled and hit both charity tosses to put Valpo up 75-72.

Mays was fouled on YSU’s next trip up the court and he hit one of two to cut the Crusader margin to just two points at 75-73.  Kenney was fouled on the rebound of Mays missed free throw where he promptly connected on both attempts making it a two-possession game at 77-73.

Bright was fouled with five seconds left and hit both his his free throws to cut the lead to two points at 77-75.  After a quick foul, YSU grabbed a rebound but Sulskis had to heave a half-court prayer that didn’t get close and Valpo held on for an exciting 77-75 win.

Valparaiso (14-14, 9-7) got 22 points from Brandon Wood.  Youngstown State (8-17, 2-13) got 24 from Sulskis and DeAndre Mays had a career high with ten assists.

Valpo Coach Homer Drew was full of praise to Youngstown State after the game.  “Jerry [Slocum] has these kids playing hard.  We knew they were going to play hard against us.  I was also proud of our guys to hang in there.  What a game, we’re up, they’re up, we’re up.  Not having any turnovers in the second half and hitting 10 of 18 threes were the difference.  Credit Youngstown, they have been in alot of games and it comes down to one shot here or there either way.”

YSU next heads to Milwaukee for a Monday 7:00 game.  Catch the action on AM-570 with Robb Schmidt bringing the call.