Archive for the ‘YSU Basketball’ Category

Wright State’s Armond Battle made a free throw with 1.4 seconds remaining to lift the Raiders past the Youngstown State men’s basketball team, 63-62, on Saturday afternoon at the Nutter Center.  The Penguins fell to 5-2 overall and 1-1 in the Horizon League while the Raiders improve to 3-5 overall and 1-1 in the league.

Senior DuShawn Brooks led the Guins with 17 points while Blake Allen scored 15 and junior Damian Eargle had 10 points, seven rebounds and five blocks.

Once trailing by five, 62-57, with 2:45 to go, Allen knotted the game at 62-62 with 1:32 left, and after an offensive foul by WSU’s AJ Pacher, Allen’s shot to give Youngstown State the lead was off the mark, which set up Battle’s heroics.

The Penguins, who led by as many as 17 points in the first half, 30-13, shot just 28 percent in the second half and made just two 3-pointers after shooting 52 percent in the first, including going 9-of-15 from 3-point range.

Leading by three, 16-13, with 10:57 left before halftime, YSU scored 14 straight over the next 3:43 to take a 30-13 lead at the 7:14 mark. A 3-pointer by Allen, a jumper by Eargle and 3-pointers by Allen, Brooks and  AshenWard highlighted the Penguins run.  The Raiders got back into the game using a 19-8 run to close out the half trailing YSU, 38-32.

The Penguins extended their halftime lead to seven, 41-34, when Kendrick Perry scored his first field goal of the game at the 17:39 mark.  WSU scored the next eight points over the next three to take their first lead of the game, 42-41, since leading 7-6 at the 15:42 mark of the first half.  The lead changed four more times when a 3-pointer by Allen and jumper by Perry gave the Penguins a 56-52 lead with 6:31 to go.

The Penguins return home to face Fredonia State, Tuesday, Dec. 6. Tipoff is slated for 7:05 p.m. at the Beeghly Center, or 30 minutes after the Lady Penguins game concludes against Bowling Green.

Youngstown State opened their Horizon League schedule on the road and collected a 64-61 victory at Detroit.  The Penguins got a big night out of senior DuShawn Brooks who scored a career-high 24 points.  The Penguins improve to 5-1 for the first time since 2000 and are 1-0 in the Horizon League. Detroit falls to 3-5 overall and 0-1 in the league.

Brooks, who made a career-best six 3-pointers, nailed his final two in the final 1:55 to erase a four-point defict, 59-55, and to give the Penguins a 61-59 lead with 1:05 to go.

Sophomore Kendrick Perry, who had 13 points, extended the Guins lead to 62-59 after making one-of-two free throws with 17 seconds left.  Perry (above) would later ice the game with .5 seconds remaining hitting two clutch free throws.  Detroit’s Chase Simon made a layup with 1.1 seconds left to bring the Titans within one, 62-61,  before Perry was fouled at half court.

Detroit scored the first four points of the second half to take a 38-35 lead, but a 3-pointer by senior Ashen Ward capped an 8-2 run to give Youngstown State a 43-40 lead at the 14:21 mark.  The Penguins extended their lead to five twice, 47-42, and 49-44, with 11:10 to go.

The Titans used an 11-1 run to take a point lead, 55-50, at the 5:40 mark. Brooks hit his fourth 3-pointer of the game to bring the Guins within two, 55-53, with 5:22 left.  After a free throw by Simon, Brooks (below) hit a jumper at the 3:10 mark to get within one, 56-55.

Detroit’s Donovan Foster put the Titans up four, 59-55, at the 2:11 mark before Brooks’ 3-pointer to bring the Guins with one, 59-58, with 1:55 to go.

In the first half, the Guins jumped out to a 12-4 lead just four minutes into the game, sparked by a high-light reel alley-oop dunk from Ward to Perry.  Detroit outscored YSU 12-2 over the next four minutes to take its first lead of the game, 16-14, on a three-point play by McCallum at the 11:42 mark.

Blake Allen finally got in the scoring column nailing a jumper and a 3-pointer to give the Guins a 19-18 lead.  Later, Brooks hit two more 3-pointers to push the Guins advantage to six, 27-21, at the 6:15 mark.

The Guins lead by as many as seven points, 35-28, after two layups by freshman Shawn Amiker. However, Detroit scored the final six points of the half, including four in the final three seconds. McCallum hit two free throws and Chase Simon stole the in-bound pass and fed McCallum for a layup to cut the Guins lead to 35-34 at the intermission.

The Penguins visit Wright State, Saturday, Dec. 3, at 3 p.m. at the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio.

Coming off of a Thanksgiving weekend road trip, Youngstown State returned to the Beeghly Center and showed no sign of any road fatigue.  The Penguins seized an early lead and coasted to a 80-55 victory over MAC-opponent, Western Michigan to go to 4-3 on the season.  Last season, the Penguins put up a total of six wins.  To have four in seven games says a lot about just how far the program has moved forward in such a short time.

The win was the first for YSU at home this season.  It was also the first time a Lady Penguins team has won by more than 20 points since 2006, when they defeated Buffalo by 34.

Youngstown State never trailed in the game.  In the first half, they had a lead as big as 13 points with 7:52 until the break.  The most impressive part about the first half was that the Penguins scored 30 points and Brandi Brown only had two of them.  The knock against the Penguins going into this season (picked to finish 10th out of 10 teams), was that there was no balance around Brown.  Those same voters then turned around and elected Brown as the Horizon League Preseason Player of The Year.  The fact that the Lady Penguins could account for 28 points in a half without Brown disqualifies all of the preseason inaccuracies and negative speculation of the league voters.

In the first half, Monica Touvelle and Liz Hornberger had six points each. Tieara Jones and Devan Matkin had four each, and Macey Nortey and Heidi Schlegel had three each – pretty balanced scoring.  Brown did make her presence known with eight rebounds.

Brown (above), who played most of the game with her left nostril stuffed full of gauze, was used sparingly in the second half.  She scored six points in the first five minutes of the second half and finished the game with 12 points and 14 rebounds in just 30 minutes.  It didn’t seem like a double-double, but the numbers don’t lie.

“Last year, it was pretty much as Brandi goes, this team goes”, remarked Coach Bob Boldon.  “We play better when we play more balanced.  With all of the attention on Brandi, it is nice to see the other players step up.  We have played good offensive games, and we have played good defensive games.  This was the first time this year we had both.”

With 9:10 left in the game, Youngstown State increased their lead to 61-34 on a couple of threes by Schlegel.  The Penguins finished with 80 balanced points.

“I was really happy that we played so well as a team”, said Schlegel.  “We had four players in double figures and we are playing as a team rather than individuals.  Off the floor, we are really gelling as a team and that is helping us on the court.”

The Penguins got 15 points out of Schlegel.  It is nice to see her playing instead of sitting, she adds another dimension and plays bigger than her size.  Nortey had a very solid night finishing the game with 11 points and 6 assists, was 7-9 from the free throw line, 2-3 from the floor, had three steals, and even gathered a rebound.

Brown and Nortey, native Californians, recently traveled home to play a couple of games over the holiday weekend.  Sports information director for basketball, John Vogel, talked about the trip and spending time with both families.

“It was a very rewarding Thanksgiving weekend on the road”, commented Vogel.  We spent tome with both Macey and Brandi’s families and some of the other parents made the trip.  It was nice to see that kind of support that far away from home and the players enjoyed it as much as the parents who made the trip.”

The Penguins welcome Bowling Green as part of a doubleheader on December 6 at Beeghly Center.  Tipoff for that game is at 5:15.

Senior DuShawn Brooks hit the game-deciding 3-pointer and blocked two Red Flash shots, including an attempt at the buzzer, as the Youngstown State men’s basketball team squeaked past Saint Francis (Pa.), 60-59, on Saturday afternoon at the DeGol Center.  The Penguins improve to 4-1 for the second straight season while the Red Flash fall to 0-5 overall.

Sophomore Kendrick Perry was the lone Penguin scoring in double figures with 12 points while Brooks, junior Blake Allen, senior  Ashen Ward and freshman Cale Zuiker each had nine points.

Brooks nailed his first 3-pointer of the season with 2:15 left in the game to give Youngstown State a four-point edge, 60-56. However, Saint Francis’ Stephon Whyatt answered with a 3-pointer of his own to cut the deficit to one, 60-59, with 1:59 to go.

Tied 33-33 at the half, the Guins used a 12-2 run to start the second half to take a 45-35 lead with 17:13 left in the game. Ward scored five of his nine points during the run and Damian Eargle‘s layup put the Guins up by 10.

The Red Flash rallied to cut the Penguins lead down to one, 53-52, on a Scott Eatherton layup with 4:22 to go.

Allen hit a jumper at the 3:16 mark to give the Penguins a 57-54 edge and SFU’s John Taylor hit a jumper to slice the lead back down to one, 57-56, before Brooks’ game-deciding 3-pointer.

YSU trailed by as many as 11 points, 17-6, in the first half, but quickly found their rhythm offensively.  Allen hit a 3-pointer and jumpers by Kendrick Perry, Shawn Amiker and another by Perry brought the within three, 19-16, at the 10:10 mark.

The Guins tied the game at 25-25 on a 3-pointer by Zuiker with 4:42 to go and two more 3-pointers by Zuiker gave the Guins a 33-30 lead before SFU’s Scott Eatherton made a free throw to knot the game at 33-33 at the half.

Youngstown State shot 45.8 percent in the first half, including 40 percent from 3-point range.  The Penguins open Horizon League play against Detroit, Thursday, Dec. 1, at 7 p.m. at Calihan Hall.

Youngstown State junior forward Brandi Brown cemented herself among the best players to ever wear YSU red and white and led the Penguins to a 64-50 win over LMU in front of an enthusiastic group of supporters on Friday.  Brown’s 1,000th career point gave the Penguins a 7-6 lead, and they never trailed again. Brown, who grew up about an hour from Los Angeles, finished with a game-high 19 points and 14 rebounds.

YSU sophomore Heidi Schlegel joined Brown in a double-double, posting 17 points and a career-high 10 rebounds.

The Penguins will play the winner between Northern Iowa and Wyoming on Saturday at approximately 6:15 p.m. Eastern.

YSU led by double digits for most of the second half, but LMU cut the deficit to 43-36 with 12:23 left. Brown’s layup on a pass from Los Angeles native Macey Nortey put YSU up nine on the next possession, and the Penguins went on to score seven straight points.

YSU’s biggest lead came on Brown’s final bucket of the game. Her layup at the 3:44 mark on a pass from Schlegel capped another seven-point run that put the Penguins up 62-44.  Schlegel had 13 points and five rebounds in the second half, and Brown matched her with 13 points in the final 20 minutes. Schlegel also had a game-high five assists.  Kenya Middlebrooks had 14 points and hit four of YSU”s eight 3-pointers.

YSU outshot LMU 40.4 percent to 31.7 percent and outscored the Lions 20-8 off turnovers.

Brown’s 1,000th point came from the free-throw line with 15:06 left in the first half, and it gave the Penguins their first lead at 7-6. YSU didn’t trail again, and a Kelsea Fickieson lay-up gave the Penguins a 16-10 advantage with 12:33 remaining.

A Middlebrooks triple gave the Penguins their first double-digit lead with 7:06 left, and her third 3-pointer of the period put YSU up 33-20 at the 3:41 mark. That completed a 12-4 run for the Penguins during which they held LMU without a field goal for five minutes. Middlebrooks led all scorers with 11 points in the first half, and the senior had three of the Penguins’ five 3-pointers in the period. Brown had six points and nine rebounds. YSU shot 37 percent as a team to offset 11 turnovers.

For the second time this season, the Youngstown State men’s basketball team tied the school single-game record with 14 3-pointers made but could not overcome a slow start and a hot-shooting Penn State team in an 82-71 loss to the Nittany Lions on Wednesday evening at the Bryce Jordan Center.  The Guins fall to 3-1 while Penn State improves to 5-1 overall.

The Guins connected on 14-of-27 from 3-point range, including going 10-of-15 from behind the arc in the second half.  Junior guard Blake Allen led the Guins with 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field and made a career-best seven 3-pointers. Sophomore Kendrick Perry scored 23 points, including 18 points in the second half, and made five 3-pointers. The last time two players scored at least 20 points in the same game was when Vytas Sulskis and Damian Eargle scored 25 and 24 points, respectively, against Malone on Dec. 13, 2010.

Youngstown State, who shot just 31.3 percent in the first half, trailed by 18, 44-26, at the half, but came out firing making six of their first nine shots of the half to cut the deficit down to 12, 53-41, after Allen drilled a 3-pointer with 14:35 to go.  Three-pointers by Allen, who scored 17 in the second half, and two free throws by Perry brought the Guins within nine, 58-49, with 11:31 to go.

Penn State quickly boosted its lead back to 14 after a 3-pointer by Jermaine Marshall and a tip-in by Ross Travis at the 9:36 mark.  Sophomore Nate Perry converted a four-point play – nailing a 3-pointer and subsequent free throw – to bring the Guins within ten, 68-58.  The Penguins would get within nine points two more times on 3-pointers by Allen with 50 seconds left and 18 seconds to go.

Youngstown State will visit Saint Francis (Pa.), Saturday, Nov. 26, at 2 p.m. in Loretto, Pa.

The Youngstown State University Lady Penguins took the floor at home for the first time this season.  Playing in their fourth game of the year, and coming in with a 2-1 record (33% of last years win total), the Penguins fell to American University of the Patriot League, 48-41.  It was a struggle on offense for the ‘Guins from start to finish.

“It is early in the year and the offense we run takes time”, said Coach Bob Boldon.  “Nobody is more frustrated than me.  The only thing we didn’t miss was a half court shot.  If you are going to compete and win games against good teams, you have to shoot better.”

In the first half, American raced out to an eleven point lead with seven minutes to play.  Youngstown State cut the lead back to five points by intermission and trailed 25-20.  Brandi Brown, the Horizon League Preseason Player of The Year, and Devan Matkin each scored six for the Penguins in the opening stanza.

In the second half, the Penguins reeled off the first five points to make the score 26-25.  The home team surged ahead at the 13:11 mark of the second half, taking a 28-27 lead, their first since it was 2-0 a minute into the game. Tieara Jones got an offensive rebound and battled through three Eagles to get the lead for the Penguins.  At the 10:31 mark, Monica Touvelle hit a three to open a two-point lead for YSU.

The Penguins really struggled on offense, shooting 27.8% from the floor, 18.5% from three, and 50% from the line.

“Defensively, we are getting a little better each game.  Offensively, we seem to be getting worse each game”, noted Boldon.  “We were swapping four players at a time because we are out of shape.  I do like our depth, it gives us the freedom to make more moves, and we will continue to play a lot of people.

With YSU trailing 36-35 and 5:44 left in the game, Heidi Schlegel was fouled on a steal but missed both of the free throws.  To that point in the game, the ‘Guins were just 2-8 from the charity stripe.  Brown hit a shot with 3:40 left in the game to give the Penguins a one point lead.  Lisa Strack went to the line for American and hit both ends of the one-and-one to put the Eagles back in front by a point.

Dobbs connected for three to stretch the Eagles lead to 41-37 with 2:16 left in the contest.  Kenya Middlebrooks got to the line and hit a pair of free throws to cut the Eagles lead to two at 41-39 with 1:34 remaining.  Arron Zimmerman then hit a three-pointer to hoist American into a five point lead with 1:14 left to go.

Brown finished the game with 14 points, one short of the 1,000 point career mark, and 9 rebounds for the Penguins (2-2). Matkin and Middlebrooks finished with six points each.  The Penguins committed 21 turnovers in the loss.

Dobbs gathered 14 points for the Eagles. Stephanie Anya gathered 10 rebounds.  The Eagles had 25 turnovers, but the Penguins only scored 15 points off of those chances.

The Penguins head west to compete in a holiday tournament, which Boldon addressed with mixed emotions.  “It is nice in the sense that Brandi and Macey will get a chance to play in front of their families.  Obviously, I would rather spend the holidays with my family at home, but it is nice to allow their families to see them play.”

Last season, the Youngstown State women lost one senior, Boki Dimitrov.  Not downplaying her accomplishments by any means, but the Lady Penguins retained most of their productive core, and then some.  Last season, Brandi Brown became the first player in Horizon League history to lead the league in scoring and be kept off of the All-Conference First Team.  Two years ago, the Horizon League gave Yar Shayok of Detroit the Horizon League Newcomer of The Year hardware despite Brown having better statistics.

Fast forward to November, 2011.  Brown has been named the conference preseason Player of The Year.  In some sports, when an official blows a call, they sometimes give the team that feels cheated a makeup call, or a call favorable to chide the whining.  Two problems with all of that.  One.  Brown and Boldon have not whined about any of it. Two.  Brown deserves the recognition, it was the league voting failures of the past that make me nervous about what they base these choices on.

In another brainy move, the voters picked this year’s Penguins team to finish tenth (out of ten) in the preseason league poll.  So now we have the best player – who didn’t make the first team last season, playing for the predicted worst team despite the torrid run at season’s end in February.  Who votes?  Can I get a name? A number?  Anything?

“Obviously, they think that she [Brown] is the best player in the conference,” said Coach Boldon.  “Either they think that I can’t coach or that her teammates can’t play.  It will take care of itself in January and February, we have to keep working to get better today.  We played two scrimmages and shot well, Brandi was not the top scorer in either of them.  She is not selfish, she understands the game, and wants the team to succeed.  Others can score just because Brandi is on the floor.”

“This team has higher aspirations than last years team”, noted Boldon.  “We know we still have a ways to go before we can get to the goals we have set for this year.  We are going to try to win every game we play.  Last season, we played that way toward the end of the year.  Before that, we got content by a win here or there.”

Brown was more politically correct with her answers to these questions.

“It is disappointing to see that they predicted we would finish last”, said Brown. “It just fuels us and gives us motivation to work harder.  Last year we won six games, we know what it takes to win now.  There is nothing other than winning that we want.  Moral victories do not show in the standings.  I believe in my teammates and know that we all want to win.”

“Regardless of whatever accolades people decide to give me, the team comes first.  It is nice and I am humbled to be picked by the conference, but make no mistake about it, this team wants to win games.”

The above picture would not say much if you just looked at it. The person shooting is Kendrick Perry, a Youngstown State standout.  He is something to see, always gives me something to write about and makes me say ‘wow’ at least once a game.

In a 53-49 win on Friday night, Perry put up subpar numbers.  He was 2-13 from the field, 0-5 from three-point land, and made 6-10 free throws, but missed three in overtime.

Back to the picture. This was taken a half hour after the game.  Perry wheeled the rebounding machine out and shot free throws for about an hour.  The gym was pretty well empty and I was so inspired by his dedication to do more, again, that I had to post the picture tonight.  Most players were happy to get the win, had their box of pizza, and were headed back to the dorms.  The last thing on Perry’s mind was pizza.

Perry might still be at the Beeghly Center, maybe he stopped to eat some of his pizza, but I would bet until he makes 100 or 1,000 or whatever number he has in his mind, he isn’t going to leave.  I’m thinking about driving back, now two hours after the game ended to bring the guy a Gatorade. You will not find many kids playing college sports with this kind of work ethic.

About a half hour into the unscheduled shooting practice, YSU Coach Jerry Slocum slowly walked, trying to mask a proud smile, toward Perry to talk with him (above).  Slocum has bragged about the sophomore’s work ethic in the past, but to me, seeing was believing.  After about a five minute chat, Slocum headed out, Perry put the earbuds back in and started shooting free throws.  I left about twenty minutes after that, even waved to Perry.  It was surreal to me that a sophomore in college would want to get better this much after his team won a game.

In an interview conducted earlier this year, Slocum marveled at some of the things that Perry has done to get better.

“I went to breakfast early one Saturday, and wanted to stop by my office before I worked out”, recalled Slocum.  “Nobody knew I was coming, but when I opened the door of the gym and heard a ball bouncing, I was in awe to see KP shooting, doing whatever he could to make himself a better player, without being told to.  Here is a kid who elected to wake up early on a Saturday morning and shoot without being told.  That is the attitude of a winner.”

For the first time in over ten years, the Youngstown State University men’s basketball program is undefeated after their first three games of 2011.  Kendrick Perry, Ashen Ward, and Damian Eargle helped the Penguins overcome a sluggish first half to defeat UC-Riverside, 53-49, in overtime on Friday night.  The overtime win was YSU’s first since 2001.  They had been 0-11 in overtime games before this victory.

“This was not our best shooting night, but it was a very strong defensive effort”, said Coach Jerry Slocum after the win.  “That is as good as a defensive team that we faced tonight as any team in our conference.  It is nice to be 3-0 and we go on the road for six of our next eight games.  This is a fun group, I am very proud of them.”

In the first half, the Penguins could not get much to fall.  As a team, YSU shot only 25% from the floor, 25% from 3-point land, and 43% from the free throw line.  Fortunately for the Penguins, UC-Riverside struggled just as badly in the first half.  When the buzzard sounded to end the half, YSU held a 21-19 lead.  Ward knocked down eight points and DuShawn Brooks (below) had seven boards for the home team at the break.  The Highlanders did not score the last 2:59 of the opening half, and  Phil Martin paced UC-Riverside with seven points at the break.

Brooks, a senior, was a hero despite a 1-15 shooting performance.  He blocked a shot forcing a change of possession, he had 14 rebounds, he hustled until the whistle was blown, and most importantly, never got rattled by his off-night on offense.

“I am as proud of DuShawn tonight as I have ever been.  He had a big block for us, and even though he was not hitting his shots, he kept his head in the game and stepped up to battle through it”, said Slocum of Brooks’ efforts.

“It was a win.  It could be ugly, pretty, it doesn’t matter, it’s a win”, claimed Brooks.  “I am motivated to win and I am a senior now, so I am not worried if my shots are not falling, eventually they will.”

In the second half, the Penguins went on an 8-0 run.  Trailing 27-24, YSU reeled off the eight uncontested points to take a 32-24 lead with 16:41 left in the game.  Credit the scoring chances to a vicious full-court press that Coach Jerry Slocum unveiled.  Ward started to get going and the Penguins were clicking, for awhile.

With 6:14 left in the game, Martin grabbed a rebound of a partially blocked shot and slammed it back through making it 37-37.  Following a Perry free throw, Eargle blocked a shot, but the Penguins could not convert.  The refs seemed to have more control over the game than either team as they made some pretty iffy calls – both ways.

With the score tied at 40 and 2:01 left in the game, Eargle hit a big pair of free throws to put YSU ahead by two.  Martin hit a prayer jumper with the shot clock on one second to tie the game at 42 apiece.  UC-Riverside brought the ball up and tried to get the ball down low, but Eargle blocked the attempted shot and the Penguins regained possession on a shot clock violation with six seconds left.  The Penguins got the ball back in a tie game with six seconds left.  Brooks inbounded to Perry who could not get through traffic or get a quality shot off forcing overtime.

In the extra session with the teams tied at 46, Martin got a shot off in a crowded lane and was fouled with 1:52 left in the game.  He converted the ‘and-one’ to give Riverside a three-point lead.  With 41.8 seconds left and the ‘Guins down three, Eargle was fouled on a rebound.  The foul was on Kevin Bradshaw, his fifth.  Eargle was sent to the line where he hit a pair of charity tosses to cut the deficit to one.  Perry penetrated and was fouled to go to the line, where he hit a pair to give YSU a one-point lead at 50-49 with 20 seconds left in the game.  Riverside drove, missed a shot, Brooks grabbed a rebound, and was fouled with 1.4 seconds left.  To add to the ending, the UC-Riverside bench got whistled for a technical foul.  After Brooks missed the first free throw, Jim Woolridge, the UC coach got tossed.  His exit looked like something out of a WWE script.  Pouty face, yelling at the refs, playing the crowd…

Nonetheless, YSU hit some free throws off of all of the free advertising sponsored by Woolridge to cement the victory.

Ward was the top scorer for the Penguins, finishing with 15 points.  Eargle blocked 8 shots and chipped in with 11 points.  Martin had 16 for the Highlanders taking their top-scoring honors.

YSU is just five games away from school victory #1,000.