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DeAndre Mays (above, courtesy of Ron Stevens)  was named the Player Of The Week in the Horizon League on Monday.  Mays had an outstanding week in helping YSU go 2-0 with wins over UIC and Loyola.

For the two games, Mays averagaed 22.5 ppg (50% from field), 66.7% from three-point range, and 84.6% from the free throw line.  He also set a career-best with 30 points against Loyola on Saturday.  Mays currently leads the Penguins in scoring with 13.2 points per contest and in assists where he averages 2.6 dimes.

For the Dallas, Texas native, it was the first time he was given the Player Of The Week honors.  The ambitious Senior will lead the Penguins into rugged territory later this week at Valparaiso on Thursday and then nationally-ranked Butler Saturday.

Congratulations DeAndre!

The Youngstown Phantoms have struggled to find consistency this season.  Two individuals who have been good night in and night out have been rewarded for their efforts.  Nick Czinder and Taylor Holstrom have been named to represent Youngstown at the USHL All-Star Game to be held in Indianapolis on January 26.

Taylor Holstrom has appeared in all 31 Phantoms games so far this season.  Over that span of games, he has racked up some pretty impressive numbers.  Holstrom leads the team in scoring with 23 points (8 goals, 15 assists) and impressive plus/minus ratio of +11.  Beyond the numbers is the intangible bursts of speed that Holstrom flashes.  The guy is a hustler and is very deservant of the honor.

Nick Czinder has put up numbers to be proud of.  Czinder has nine goals and five assists and a plus/minus ratio of +10.  Czinder is a highly-touted prospect who also plays hard every single game.  He is one of the few guys Coach Bob Mainhardt has praised consistently all season.

Congratulations Nick and Taylor!!

DeAndre Mays was determined to help his team win.  He accomplished that goal and set a career-high in scoring with 30 points as Youngstown State got by Loyola, 71-67, in a very physical and hard fought contest.  Mays became the first YSU Penguin since Kesten Roberts (2006-2007 season) to score 30 in a game.

Up until the last possession , Sirlester Martin, Kelvin Bright, and Mays scored every YSU point in the second half.  Dallas Blocker ended the game with the last three points, his only scoring in the game, which turned out to be the winning margin, proving the old adage that it is not quantity but rather quality that matters.

Youngstown State jumped in front 17-13 on some good 3-point shooting. Vytas Sulskis, Vance Cooksey, and DeAndre Mays all dialed it up from downtown in the early going. Ben Averkamp was hitting mostly everything he was throwing up as his three tied the game at 22 with 6:24 left in the first half.

The Penguins and Ramblers had a few lead changes with the last coming right at the first half buzzard. Sirlester Martin gathered in an offensive rebound and released the ball right as the backboard lit up to signify that the time in the half had elapsed. After several minutes of the officiating crew reviewing the replay, the basket was allowed and the Penguins ended up with a 32-31 lead as a result.

Martin’s tenth point of the night gave the Penguins a 43-41 lead with 13:29 left in the contest. The second half was played very closely as neither team had a lead larger than four points since YSU led 17-11 at the 12:00 minute mark of the first half.

Over the next nine minutes, the Penguins would claim a 57-53 lead riding the shoulders of Bright and Mays.  Over that span, the Penguin guards combined to score all but two of YSU’s points (15 in all).  Martin chimed in with a 15-foot baseline jumper to push the lead to 59-53 with 5:44 left in the game.

Terrance Hill, who had no points in the first half, hit an uncontested layup off of a steal, for his 17th point. Walt Gibler stole an inbounds pass off of a full-court press and layed it in to cut the Penguins lead to just one with 1:50 left in the game. Hill then hit one of two free throws to tie the game at 65.  The Penguins seemed troubled by the press again, but were able to overcome when they needed to.

“We could have wilted when they tied the game at 65 and felt sorry for ourselves.  I think DeAndre [Mays] did a great job on the three-point play.  I was proud of our guys and we didn’t back up”, is what Coach Slocum said about the resiliant finish. 

Mays drove the lane and challenged a few Ramblers in the paint. The bucket counted and the foul shot put the Penguins ahead 68-65. Loyola quickly retaliated as Gibler drove the left side of the lane and drew a foul, hitting a pair of free throws to cut the lead to one at 68-67 with 20 seconds left.

(photo courtesy of Ron Stevens)

Dallas Blocker came up with a big offensive rebound and was fouled in the act of scoring a huge basket, his first of the night, staking Youngstown State to a 70-67 lead. Blocker knocked down the free throw to make it a two possession game. Loyola could not score as time ran out and YSU had a 71-67 victory.

After the game, Coach Jerry Slocum praised the efforts of his team.  “Our kids really battled these last two games.  People were walking around a week ago saying ‘who are you’.  I think you saw tonight who we are.  That [Loyola] is as physical of a team as there is in this league and we overcame alot of things in that game.  We made foul shots we needed them.”

YSU (7-8, 2-4) has two big road games next week at Valparaiso and Butler.  Loyola fell to 11-5 and 2-4 in Horizon League play.

The Youngstown Phantoms seem to have lost their mojo over the last couple of weeks.  Friday, they did little to regain the promise shown in December as Fargo rolled into town and captured a 4-2 victory.  The loss was the fourth in a row for the slumping Phantoms.

The Phantoms wasted little time getting on the scoreboard as Tom Serratore put the rebound of an Adam Berkle shot into the opponents net.  Dan Senkbeil also picked up an assist on the goal, scored at the 4:28 mark of the first.

Garrett Allen tied the game when Phantoms Goaltender, Jordan Tibbet, got tangled up with a Force player trying to retreat back through the crease.  Allen’s goal was a rebound off of a Matt Leitner shot.  The goal, which came at the 11:37 mark of the first period was Allen’s 12th of the season.

With 14:37 left in the second period, Force Captain Chase Grant connected on a shorthanded chance.  Grant’s goal was his 15th of the season and was unassisted putting Fargo on top, 2-1.

With 11:27 left in the second period, Fargo took a 3-1 lead when Corey Leivermann  beat Tibbett from close range.  Garnering assists on the goal were Colten St. Clair, and Grant, who scored three minutes earlier.

With 1:13 left in the second, Youngstown sliced the two-goal Fargo lead in half when Brett Gensler connected unassisted.  Gensler had been so close so many times in recent games to scoring a goal.  He finally broke through with his eleventh of the season.

In the third period, Nate Condon extended the Force lead to 4-2.  Chad Demers and Johnnie Searfoss picked up assists on the Condon goal.  Condon snuck the puck past Tibbett who stopped a Demers drive that deflected to the front lip of the right faceoff circle.

Fargo held off a late powerplay chance to preserve the victory and raise their record to 21-9-1.  With the loss the Phantoms fell to 13-15-2.  Fargo outshot the Phantoms 31-27.

After the game, a dejected Coach Mainhardt reflected on the recent problems of his team.  “A couple of bad apples are spoiling the whole bushel.  Most members of each line play well and do their jobs, but there is a guy on each line not sticking to the plan.  We will give them an opportunity to do the job again tomorrow, and if those couple of guys continue to let the team down we will definitely be shortening the bench and giving the ice time to the guys who are on the right page.”

Richard Young Tilt-O-Meter:

Coming Into 1-8-10 Game vs Fargo: 120 penalty minutes (leads USHL).

After Game:  Still 120 penalty minutes.

Young was a scratch from Friday’s game and has missed the last three with concussion symptoms.  He sat next to me in the pressbox during the game and stayed busy videotaping and charting shots for the team.  The injury took place when he was checked simultaneously by two Green Bay defenders on the recent roadtrip. 

Brandi Brown is a name Youngstown State Basketball fans better get used to hearing.  The Lady Penguin is a Freshman, already has four double-doubles on the season, and has established herself as a force underneath.  Expect Brown to receive Horizon League honors at the end of the season.  The remarkable efforts of Brown deserve praise and the league would be foolish to snub her based on her experience or the lack of team wins.  Brown has a birthday coming up January 10th, and if you asked her, helping the team win a game would be the greatest present in the world.

Paneech:  What is it like having a birthday so close to the holiday season?

Brown:  It’s really close to the holidays, I like that because I can get more gifts.  I wish I was closer to my family, but I know they are going to be happy for me.

Paneech:  Tell me the story of how you were recruited to Youngstown State.

Brown:  I was not sure what I was going to do after high school.  They [Coach Bernard Scott] were in California recruiting Maryum [Jenkins].  My team was playing against her team and I played really well and the recruiting process took off from there.  It is nice to know someone from California, common interests and all that stuff.

Paneech:  Explain the pressure of only dressing seven players knowing that you are going to have to put in solid minutes night in and night out.

Brown:  It is really mentally stressing but we have to stay positive.  Positive practices, positive time at the game, positive no matter what. 

Paneech:  You are developing into a great post player.  What has made you better?

Brown:  The coaching staff and support from all of my teammates.  I am really happy that I have so much support and people that want to help me.

Paneech:  Do you ever have nightmares of getting into foul trouble and the consequences it could create if you are unable to come back into a game?

Brown:  (Laughs)  I just try not to think about it.  I just try to play my game.  You can get a foul here or there and that is ok, but you have got to play smart.

Paneech:  Talk about Coach Martin.

Brown:  Coach Martin has taught me alot about myself and how to be strong through whatever is thrown at me on the court or off, like in the classroom.  Coach B [Meredith Baugher] is my post coach and she has really pushed me to go harder.  She played the game and it is nice to have her showing me things that I might not have seen.

Paneech:  Talk about the future of this program.

Brown:  I see alot of success.  It may not seem bright right now, but I think we as a team and the fans and community can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Paneech:  Being from California, have you adapted to all of this lovely snow yet?

Brown:  No, I am not used to it.  I don’t like it.  I live here now, so I have to wear the big jackets and gloves and mittens and all of that good stuff. 

Paneech:  Walk me through a typical day – start to finish – during the season when school is in session.

Brown:  I wake up early and go get something to eat.  I like bagels and cream cheese.  I go to class.  After class I might have some down time, but if I don’t I come straight to the locker room and maybe watch TV for a little bit.  I go to practice, maybe do some study table hours here and there.  I go back to the dorm and do some more studying.  College is so different from high school.  You have to be disciplined and you really can’t just cram at night for a test. 

One Word Answers

Favorite Soft Drink:  Sprite.

Favorite TV Show:  The Game.

Favorite Fast Food:  Chipotle.

Biggest Phobia:  Crickets.  When you try to kill them they just keep making that noise and you can’t find them.

Worst Habit:  I used to bite my nails, now I don’t return phone calls.

Favorite WNBA or NBA Player:  I don’t have a favorite player or team.

Best Movie:  Poetic Justice.

Favorite Toy As A Child:  Barney.

Toppings On A Pizza:  Just cheese.

Where Do You See Yourself In 5 Years?  Hopefully a college graduate and back home with my family for a little bit.

The Green Bay Phoenix rolled into Youngstown ranked #20 in the country. They had a perfect season underway. The Youngstown State Penguins were having a hard time keeping players healthy and remaining competitive. To their credit, the Lady Penguins have not waived the proverbial white flag yet and keep trying althouth their efforts have not resulted in a victory yet.

Green Bay had enough firepower at the end of the first half and beginning of the second to get by pesky YSU, 76-60.  Youngstown State had their finest night of the season shooting 50% from the field and 41.7% from three-point range.  As Coach Cindy Martin stated after the game, “There is a reason why they are 13-0 and ranked 20th in the country.”

Youngstown State did a good job for the first nine minutes of the game to make shots and maximize opportunities on offense. Green Bay was having a field day in the low post capitalizing on matchups that worked in their favor. With 11:20 left in the opening half, Green Bay held a 14-12 lead.

YSU took a 19-18 lead on a Brandi Brown layup with 8:52 left in the first half. Green Bay scored to reclaim a one-point lead, but Boki Dimitrov nailed a three to put YSU back on top, 22-20. Four three-pointers accounted for more than half of the Penguins offense.

The Penguins were up 28-22, but the Phoenix trap proved to be too much for YSU as Green Bay ended the half on a 16-0 run to take a 38-28 lead into the intermission. Kayla Tetschlag poured in 14 first half points and gathered four rebounds for Green Bay. Youngstown State got ten from Boki Dimitrov.

Green Bay built the lead to 23 with 10:53 left in the game and coasted home for the victory.  Balance and ball movement were the keys for the Phoenix in the second half.  Tetschlag, Heather Golden, and Celeste Hoewisch had at least 13 points each to to spark the balanced Green Bay scoring attack.

With the victory, Green Bay improved to 13-0 and did little to tarnish their national ranking with their play in the second half.

After the game, Coach Martin praised her team for their effort.  “I’m tickled to death and told the girls before the game that this is my dream, coaching Division I basketball.  We are building and growing but we want results now and we have to keep the long-term goals in focus.  I know the results are not very good on paper yet, but I am extremely encouraged with the progress.” 

Rachael Manuel had one of her best-ever games as a Lady Penguin with 14 points and 6 rebounds. Brandi Brown stayed hot as she had 16 points and nine rebounds, just missing her fifth double-double of the year.

Youngstown State fell to 0-13, but not due to a lack of effort. It’s like the old saying, the more gum you throw at the wall, sooner or later something is bound to stick.  Keep throwing Coach Martin, keep throwing.

(photo courtesy of Ron Stevens)

The calling of a timeout at a college basketball game has evolved into a complicated process.  The five guys who are actively participating in the game are probably happy that they don’t have to participate in moving the entire bench forward about five feet.

In the photo above, Youngstown State University Coach Jerry Slocum is shown during a timeout.  Take notice that the seats have been moved forward about five feet to allow the bench players access to the information behind the seated players.

When you are watching a game on television, you do not get to take in the first twenty seconds.  Watch for this closely, as it is really turning into a hamster race to get everything in place.  Coaches are grabbing clipboards, the waterboy readies the squirt bottles for delivery, there is someone passing out towels, and several players moving chairs around.

The exclamation point of the whole process is the one seat that gets brought out to face everyone, or the coaching seat.  It is like watching the Ohio State Band do Script Ohio when a timeout gets called. 

The process obviously has pros and cons.  The advantage of moving everything forward a few feet to allow the remainder of players to receive information from the coach makes perfect sense.  If you wanted to really dig for good reasons, an exhausted player does not have to walk as far for the stop in play.

The negatives are the time factor involved in rearranging all of the furniture, the harder angles that towels and Gatorade are shuffled in from, and getting back on the court in enough time to avoid getting a technical foul for a delay of game.

So far, the system has not been disruptive or counterproductive in any way.  However, as more teams go to this system, timeout duration will either be lengthened or rules will be more strictly enforced.

The Youngstown State University Lady Penguins have been short on numbers all year long.  In the Horizon League  opening game Saturday, only seven players dressed.  For a half, seven players was good enough.  In a mediocre second half, depth might have been a welcome option.  Milwaukee used good depth and a strong low post game to get by a scrappy Youngstown State group, 68-59.

Early on, YSU did a decent job shooting and trailed only 18-17 against a much taller Milwaukee team.  Boki Dimitrov hit a couple of baskets to keep YSU close.  The Lady Penguins were doing a good job cutting off low-post passes and maximizing the size they did have as Brandi Brown and Rachael Manuel were rebounding and stealing.

With 7:41 left in the first half, Youngstwon State held a 19-18 lead.  The Lady Penguins were really hustling and diving after loose balls all over the court.  Maryum Jenkins and Kenya Middlebrooks were both slow getting up after hustling for loose balls, a scary prospect considering the shallowness of the Lady Penguin bench.  As YSU held a lead deep into the first half, it was hard not to notice the coaches and players had smiles on their faces and were having genuine fun.

At the half, the Panthers and Penguins were deadlocked at 25.  Brown and Ashley Imperiale had 10 points each for their respective teams at the break.

Milwaukee used a 12-3 run to open the second half and established a 37-28 lead.  The Panthers were taking advantage of several second-chance opportunities and taking shots much closer to the hoop than they had in the first half.

The fatigue factor and roster size started to take their toll in the second half.  Milwaukee had a current of fresh bodies on the court while YSU was winded and gasping by the 10:00 mark. 

YSU really struggled from 3-point territory shooting less than 12% for the game.  The Penguins dropped to 0-12 on the season, while Milwaukee improved to 6-6 by winning the Horizon Conference opener for both teams.

After the game, Penguins Coach Cindy Martin expressed her thoughts of the comendable effort of the Lady Penguins.  “I wish I could go back and change two things.  One was the intensity that we lacked to start the second half.  The other thing was to attack and go right at them instead of trying to avoid making a mistake and playing tentatvely.”

Milwaukee was led by Imperiale who finished the game with 16 points.  Danielle Jorgensen added 14.

YSU got 18 points and 14 rebounds from Brandi Brown.  Brown made no excuses for the loss.  “We just came out flat in the second half and it took us a few minutes to regain the intensity that we played with in the first half.”

Hangovers are usually the result of doing something bad.  People respond to hangovers in individual fashions.  Some folks sleep them off, some insist on being active, and others resume the activity which forced the hangover initially.  Whatever the correct remedy, YSU did not have it in their medicine cabinet in dropping a 70-48 verdict to Cleveland State.

Youngstown State Coach Jerry Slocum said his team did not handle the hangover of a loss, to Robert Morris just three nights earlier, very well.  “We had a horrible night and I am very disappointed in our performance.  We did not respond well to the hangover from the Robert Morris loss.  We had a couple of days and the practices were not very good.  Our intensity at home is not where I want it to be.”

Cleveland State used a full-court pressure defense early to force four YSU turnovers in the first four minutes. The turnovers mostly resulted in Viking points as they opened the game on a 15-2 run. Anthony Wells had seven points in the first seven minutes for CSU.

With 11:26 left in the first half, YSU found themselves in a 17-6 hole. Cleveland State was forcing the tempo of the game in the early minutes and once YSU established their offense, they were able to knock a couple of buckets down, but were not successful in slowing the Vikings pace in any way.

With 7:54 left in the first half, Cleveland State increased their lead to 25-7. Youngstown State was struggling with basic fundamentals such as passing and dribbling for a good part of the game to this point. 

With 2:55 left in the half, not much had changed. The Penguins trailed by 19 with the score at 36-17. Cleveland State was still using a full-court press and YSU was showing signs of breaking it, but could not institute consistency advancing the ball to the hoop.

Cleveland State enjoyed their biggest lead of the game going into halftime at 42-19. Jeremy Montgomery and Norris Cole paced the Vikings attack with nine first half points apiece. Kelvin Bright (pictured) had six points for the Penguins.

The Penguins opened the second half with an 8-4 run and forced Cleveland State to use a timeout. Sirlester Martin hit a three to pull YSU to 46-30, but Cleveland State called and raised with a Trevon Harmon bucket to reclaim a 22-point margin.

With just under ten minutes to go in the game, a pattern was developing. YSU would cut into the 22-point lead only to have Norris Cole hit a shot to push the lead back to twenty or more. With YSU trailing 56-34, and Viking big-man Jared Cunningham cranking one up from three, four Penguins awaited the airball under the hoop and none of them could collect a rebound, it is just the way things went for YSU on this night.

YSU never would pull closer than 15 points. Cleveland State dribbled out the last twenty seconds with a 70-48 victory to savor.

YSU was paced by Sirlester Martin’s 15 points and eight rebounds.  As a team, the Penguins shot 12.5% from three-point range and 36% from the field.  Bright and DeAndre Mays each chipped in with 11 points for the home team.  The Penguins fell to 5-8 and are winless in four conference games.

Cleveland State got 20 points from Norris Cole and 16 rebounds from Aaron Pogue. The Vikings improved to 5-10 overall and 1-2 in Horizon League play.

Youngstown State faced off against a lesser-known yet qualitive opponent on Wednesday night at Beeghly Center. Robert Morris already had a victory against Cleveland State on the road and looked to knock off another Horizon League team in the Penguins. Free throw shooting (65.7%) and rebounding proved to be enough for Robert Morris (5-7 ) to prevail 72-67.

The Penguins and Colonials both seemed in and out of sync in the early moments of the game. Sirlester Martin hit a jumper from just inside the three-point line and a short hook off of the right line of the key to keep YSU down just one point at 5-4 with 15:46 left in the first half.

An Ashen Ward 3-point shot staked the Penguins to a 13-10 lead with 11:15 left in the half. YSU was doing a good job penetrating to this point and had the Robert Morris defense collapsing which allowed better looks from the outside.

The Colonials tied the game at 15 when Dallas Green took a lead pass in the paint and stuffed the ball with both hands. Karon Abraham added three when he was fouled and his reverse layup fell at the 8:21 marker of the first half. Vance Cooksey hit Eddie D’Haiti with a beautiful no-look pass to give the Penguins a 21-20 lead.

Abraham gave Robert Morris its biggest lead of the game at 28-23 with a 15-foot jumper that found nothing but the twine. Coach Slocum called for a timeout to regroup, but a couple of turnovers and cheap fouls prevented a momentum shift as the Colonials went on a 15-2 run to take a 35-23 lead with under two minutes remaining in the first half of play. YSU, however, managed to shave the 12 point lead to nine before the intermission and only trailed 38-29.

Karon Abraham was top banana on both teams in scoring with 14 first-half points for the Colonials. D’Haiti, Ward, and Martin had six apiece for YSU.

At the 16:25 mark of the second half, YSU had dug themselves into an 11-point hole that was going to be hard to crawl out of unless they started doing a better job rebounding on both ends of the court. To this point in the game, the Colonials were just a step ahead, winning the matchup battles and forcing YSU to take shots that they may not have been accustomed to.

A pair of free throws by Green reestablished the double-digit lead that the Penguins seemed unable to cut into. With 11:20 left in the game, the Colonials pushed their lead to 52-39.

Riding the hot hand of Ashen Ward, the Penguins finally sliced the lead to nine with 8:41 to go. The 6’3″ Sophomore from Cleveland first connected on a three from the left arc area, and then converted a steal for a good-hustling two. A Rob Robinson slam put the Colonials back in front by 13 just :38 later at 60-47.

Kelvin Bright’s dunk ignited the crowd and reaped the benefits of a full-court press that was forcing turnovers. With 5:08 left in the game, the Penguins had cut the lead to four points at 61-57 on a DeAndre Mays three. The pressure had the Colonials coming unglued.

Vytas Sulskis buried a three to trim the lead to one. The Penguins tied the contest when Sirlester Martin hit the second of two free throws. With four minutes left it was a new game as the two squads were knotted at 61 points each. The teams exchanged points and remained tied at 65 with 2:21 left in the game. The crowd was really into the game and chanting defense with every Colonials possession.

Abraham, who led all scorers with 20, first knocked the ball away from Cooksey and then converted a layup to give the Colonials a 69-67 lead with just :33 to go in the contest for his team-high 18th point. After Robert Morris converted the first of two free throws, YSU regained possession and Sulskis heaved a three for the tie but was an eighth of an inch short. With nine seconds left, YSU had to foul and Abraham missed the first of two. After he missed the second, YSU could not garner the rebound.

Robert Morris had 16 offensive rebounds to Youngstown State’s 8.  A dejected Jerry Slocum talked about a flat start and how turning the ball over hurt down the stretch.  “We came out and stood around in the first half.  I am very, very, disappointed.  We come back and take the lead by four and miss two wide open shots and turn the ball over twice.  If you want to have a season like we are aspiring to have, you have to make plays when the game is on the line.  No one stepped up and made those plays.  We gift wrapped it for them.”

YSU (5-7) returns to action Saturday when they face Cleveland State at the Beeghly Center.