Archive for the ‘YSU Basketball’ Category

Youngstown State University announced the hiring of Bob Boldon as the new Lady Penguins basketball coach.  Boldon, who grew up in Louisville, Ohio, was a standout point guard for Walsh University.  Coach Boldon has ten years of experience coaching basketball, five at the Division I level.  His most recent venture was in the role of top assistant coach for Division I Florida Gulf Goast University.

Boldon is in a unique situation with the new task he has accepted.  On one hand, there is nowhere to go but up as the Lady Penguins are coming off an 0-30 season and hold the longest losing streak in Division I.  On the other hand, he will have to establish his ways to two other coaches recruits while trying to sign a few student-athletes to attend YSU.

“I am very excited about the opportunity to be the next head coach at Youngstown State University,” Boldon said.  “Mr. Strollo has a great vision not only for the future of the women’s basketball program, but the entire athletic department.  I am excited and honored to be a part of it.  I am also thrilled that my family and friends will have an opportunity to share in the excitement of re-establishing a winning tradition for the women’s basketball program at YSU.”

Boldon has coached at Akron, Walsh, Gannon, Wilmington, Lambuth, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, and the University of Arkansas at Monticello.  His track record would suggest he is a good fit for the current situation of YSU basketball because he seems to go into struggling programs and turn them around for the better.

Youngstown State University basketball senior player, Dallas Blocker, has been awarded the V Foundation Comeback Award.  ESPN will present the award for the tenth time on April 27th at YSU’s Scholar-Athlete Banquet.  The award will be formally announced tonight, March 30, during ESPN’s coverage of college basketball.

 “It is a great honor to be named the recipient of the 10th Annual V Foundation Comeback Award,” said Blocker. “There are no winners or losers in this. All of the finalists overcame a great deal of adversity and are deserving of this recognition as well. I’m fortunate to have had a tremendous amount of support over the past year. I need to thank my family, Coach (Jerry) Slocum and the entire Youngstown State coaching staff, and our athletic trainer Todd Burkey, who was with me every day during my chemotherapy treatments. I also want to thank The V Foundation, not only for this award, but for all of the work it does for cancer research and saving so many lives of those affected by cancer,” he concluded.

The award is open to all male and female student athletes at all levels and is presented in the honor of the late Coach Jim Valvano.  Valvano was courageous while battling with cancer, inspiring the creation of The V Foundation.

Blocker was profiled earlier in the year on Paneech.com. To read his profile interview, click here.  In the profile, Blocker gives a recounting of his battles with cancer in its early stages, what chemo was like, and how he was able to bounce back.

On behalf of the Greater Youngstown Area, extended congratulations to Dallas for having the courage to fight!

John Wooden would have had trouble winning a game with seven players dressed.  Pat Summitt would have quit midseason.  Phil Jackson would have went nuts.  Cindy Martin stuck it out.

With two years remaining on her contract, Coach Cindy Martin has resigned as head basketball coach at Youngstown State University.  In two seasons, Martin compiled a record of 3 wins and 57 losses, including an obstacle filled 0-30 campaign this year.  Beyond the numbers, so many factors worked against Martin in her two years.  This year, the numbers were a mess.  Having really only two post players made the Lady Penguins weak in the middle, especially when one would go out for a breather, or God forbid, foul trouble.

Martin only had two Seniors, Rachael Manuel and Kaitlyn March.  March dressed but was limited because of shin problems, and Manuel has been an improving work in progress since she got here.  Many of the players on the team were not even her recruits.  Credit her and the staff for finding Brandi Brown, a Horizon League Newcomer of  The Year finalist.

It’s a real shame that Martin has opted to go.  Those on the inside will tell you that there is nobody you will ever meet more competitive than Coach Martin.  Press conference after press conference, she always managed to take something positive and build on it.  She never used the numbers disadvantage as a crutch or an excuse.  Martin also never said a negative word about Youngstown, her staff, or her players because she believed in all of them.

Director of Athletics, Ron Strollo, said the choice to resign was Martin’s.  “We were surprised at Coach Martin’s decision to resign at this time.  She accepted a difficult challenge in rebuilding the winning tradition of YSU women’s basketball, and she and her staff worked tirelessly the past two years toward that end. We understand the end results of this past season put their efforts to the test, but a full examination of the extenuating circumstances that led to this year’s outcomes makes those familiar with the situation supportive of the progress she made.”

“I have decided to step down from my position because I feel in my heart it is what’s best for the program at this time,” Martin said. “I want to thank Youngstown State University and the athletic department for the wonderful opportunity. We signed back-to-back recruiting classes that are committed to their successes both on and off the court.”

Martin’s influence was obvious in her players who completed 30 community service projects over the past two years.  Academics were also important to the Lady Penguins as the team had a combined 3.29 GPA.

Best of luck to Cindy Martin!  She has paved the groundwork for the future of YSU Basketball over the next few years.

There was not too much to brag about if you followed the Youngstown State Lady Penguins.  Only dressing seven girls for most of the season, minutes were piled on starters and fatigue naturally took its toll on human bodies.  The result was a nightmare of a season, a winless campaign.  One ray of hope was Brandi Brown, the true Freshman from California who posted double-doubles almost every other game.

Brandi Brown was bypassed in the Horizon League awards for Newcomer of The Year honors.  This recognition went to Yar Shayok of Detroit, who just played at Youngstown State last week and had a good game.  This editorial is, by no means, intended to downplay Shayok’s recognition as a great future player for Detroit, but rather to question why she received the award instead of YSU’s Brown.

Brown was the leader in the entire conference in rebounding with a 10.8 RPG average.  THE ENTIRE CONFERENCE, not just the Freshmen.  Shouldn’t that merit her an award to first or second team all-Horizon League?  Dennis Rodman never averaged more than ten points a game in any season, yet was named to the NBA’s All-Star team several times because of his rebounding and defensive presence.  Brandi Brown is not Dennis Rodman, don’t take that analogy out of context, she is actually good on both ends of the floor.

Brown also led all Freshman in scoring with 11.6 points per game.  So she was the leader of the Freshman scoring race, and the Horizon League leader in rebounds and does not garner this award?  Did Yar Shayok play the immunity idol here? 

I am not sure what more the Horizon League wanted Brown to do to prove she was the best Freshman in the league.  Was this a political choice?  Because Detroit played well enough to win some games, the award is defaulted to a Freshman on the team with the best record?

If the choice was made because Youngstown State did not win a game, then the league should consider changing the name of the award to “Best Freshman on A Winning Team with The Best Supporting Cast”.

What made Brandi Brown’s year even more special is that when she got three fouls, she was forced to ease up and play cautiously.  How did she manage to put all of those numbers up playing hurt, tired, and sometimes in foul trouble?

Boo Horizon League.  I don’t care if Youngstown State won a game or not.  This is not a team award, it is an individual accolade, and you robbed the true Newcomer of The Year based on the statistics.  Leading rebounder in the league, top Freshman scorer, obstacle central with no depth, and you managed to keep Youngstown State down, yet again.

The word frustration has been repeatedly used by players, coaches, and fans involved with Youngstown State Basketball this season.  Doesn’t matter which player said it when or which time Coach Slocum dug deep to find a quick answer after a heartbreaking defeat, the word frustration has been mentioned, sometimes more than once.

DeAndre Mays, after the loss to Wright State, went a step further.  “It is beyond frustrating.  Frustrated doesn’t even explain how we feel.  We fight hard and have been staying in every game, we battle to the end, and we catch tough break after tough break.  Seems like we have to play mistake-free to get a win, because we aren’t getting any breaks.”

Mays and the Penguins head North to take a third swing at Green Bay.  The Penguins lost both contests to Green Bay this year and will be playing with a huge chip on their shoulders.  Losers of their last nine in a row, Youngstown State has played well enough to win seven of those games, but just keeps coming up on the short end.  It is remarkable that this team gets back up and fights again.

Corny analogy time…  If a boxer is in a fight until the 12th round four fights in a row and loses all four, his record will not show how tough those fights were, but rather the fact that he lost all four fights.

The Horizon League Tournament, starting tonight, is YSU’s chance to ease some of the frustration of 2010.  To make things worse, the all-conference teams were named on March 1.  Not a single Penguin received any recognition as a first teamer, second teamer, all-defensive teamer, newcomer, or coach.  Individual accolades in a team sport don’t add up to a hill of beans in my book anyway.  Twenty-one players named, and no Penguins.  Sigh.

This team has not played their most complete game of the season yet.  Oddly enough, they are at the end.  Win or go home.  Coach Slocum is a big-game coach and if this team has any miracles up their sleeve, now would be the time to use one.  They have the potential to win this tournament and you can bet that they will not disappear without a fight.  No one wants to face an angry and talented team like YSU, not when they feel they have something to prove.

Kaitlyn March came into her Senior Day game with only 45 points on the season.  Hampered by shin injuries, her playing time was often limited to five minutes per half for a majority of the year.  March came out firing a career-high 21 points, and tied the Youngstown State record for threes in a game with seven,  but it would not be enough as the Lady Penguins dropped to 0-27 on the season with an 80-62 setback in the final home game of the season.  The other Senior, Rachel Manuel, has played hard and improved throughout the season providing valuable minutes on a short-stacked team.  The two veterans played in their final home game Saturday and are pictured above with family.

On Saturday, March had 12 points on 4-4 three-point shooting, a career best, in the first twelve minutes of the game. Despite the early heroics, YSU trailed with 7:51 left in the game, 20-18, against a very good Detroit team.

Detroit (15-13, 13-4) surged forward to take a 30-22 lead when Tayler Langham drove and was fouled to complete a three-point play with 4:51 left in the first half.  Detroit used a 17-4 run to climb to a 39-22 lead.  March nailed another three giving her 15 points in the first half, a career-high.  At the half, Detroit held a 41-25 lead.

The difference in the first half was the 20 points that Detroit cashed in off of 13 YSU turnovers.

Detroit pushed the lead to 51-34 with 15:11 left in the game.  Yar Shayok beat everyone back to the Titans basket and received a long outlet pass to get the layup. Shayok had eight points, all in the second half.

YSU cut the Detroit lead to 10 at 59-49, with 10:56 left in the game.  Kaitlyn March hit a couple more threes, giving her seven for the game and 21 points, March was off the hook.  Brandi Brown (pictured) posted her 13th double-double of the season when she yanked down her tenth rebound with 8:57 left in the game. Brown finished the game with 14 rebounds and 19 points.

Regardless of the outcome, Youngstown State showed tremendous heart in this game and played like anything but an 0-27 team.

With 2:09 left in the game, the Penguins were down 73-61.  March saved all of her magic for Senior Day. The other Senior, Rachel Manuel deserved props for her tireless efforts as well.  Voted “most-improved” player, Manuel has been an obstruction in the paint for opposing teams. Congratulations to both ladies and wishes of success for their futures.

The season that Youngstown State started with so much promise came to an anti-climatic conclusion as the Penguins struggled to find their stride in a 62-54 loss to Detroit.  YSU celebrated Senior Day for players and cheerleaders before the game.  The festivities were short-lived as the Penguins trailed the Titans for most of the game.

Detroit was controlling the post game early.  With 11:27 left in the first half, Vytas Sulskis hit a pair of free throws to cut the Titans lead to 11-10.  Detroit’s Donovan Foster drove and nailed a soft kiss off of the glass to vault Detroit back to a three-point lead.

With 3:32 left in the opening half and Detroit holding a 25-19 lead, Ashen Ward buried a three for the Penguins.  After a Titan bucket, DeAndre Mays drew contact on his way to the hoop.  Mays would hit the pair of charity tosses to cut the lead to 27-24.  Thomas Kennedy was tough for Detroit in the first half with nine points as the Titans held a 31-26 lead at the intermission.  Vytas Sulskis was high-point man for Youngstown State with seven.

Kelvin Bright had a thunderous right-handed slam off of a nice feed from Mays to pull Youngstown State to within four at 41-37.  Detroit would score the next five points of the game to open up a nine-point lead at 46-37 with some help from Penguin turnovers.

With 8:57 to go in the game, Detroit jumped out to a 15-point lead.  Bright drove the lane and hit the floating finger roll to cut it to 13.  Youngstown State had a couple of good defensive possessions.  In one instance, Xavier Keeling was driving and released a prayer in the paint as he was falling that happened to go in.  On the next possession, Detroit got a bad-angle shot off with two seconds on the shotclock that didn’t hit anything.  As bad luck would have it, a Titan was right there to catch and release a layup off of a rebound as the 35-second clock expired.  Coach Slocum just threw his arms in there and his body language would say ‘what do we have to do’.

More bad luck for Youngstown State as Detroit had the worst free-throw percentage in the Horizon League coming into the game but were 17-20 through the first three quarters of the game, and finished 22-32.

With 3:37 left in the contest, Detroit had a commanding 57-43 lead in which everything seemed to be going their way.  Too much Detroit on this day as YSU bowed 62-54.

DeAndre Mays paced the Penguins with 13 points in his final Beeghly Center YSU home game.  Kelvin Bright chipped in with 11.  Mays (pictured) talked about his last home game.  “I wish it didn’t go down like this, but we have to make a push to do well in the tournament.” 

Detroit was sparked by Kennedy who finished the game with 15. With 32 trips to the free throw line, it is hard to compensate when your team only has fourteen chances, and that, combined with sloppy play spelled doom for the Penguins.

Coach Jerry Slocum had mixed emotions about Tuesday’s upcoming Horizon League Tournament game with Green Bay.  “We did not play very good today.  That [Detroit] is probably the hardest card in the league for us to matchup with because they are so big, just not good size matchups at all for us.”  Pertaining to what the Penguins could take with them into the conference tournament, Slocum reminded all, “The four games before this we battled with Butler, lost to a hot Valpo team, and lost two games at the buzzard to Wright State and UC Riverside.”

Senior Rebecca Sturgiss (above) cheers her last game on Senior Day.  Senior basketball players DeAndre Mays, Sirlester Martin, Kelvin Bright, Zack Rebillot, and Dallas Blocker played in their final home contest.  The men will travel North to face Green Bay in the opening round of the Horizon League Tournament on Tuesday night.  Good luck to all Seniors affiliated with a very well-run program.

Snakebitten.  It is a word often used to associate a series of events that seem to be going positively, but end up negative, aka, the worst luck.  When asked, after Youngsown State’s 76-73 loss to Wright State, if his team was snakebitten, all Coach Jerry Slocum could do was ask a question back.  “Do you think?” 

Vytas Sulskis pondered the question a little deeper.  “It is difficult to deal with losing so many close games.  I don’t know what’s going on, it’s like we did something bad to somebody.”

Youngstown State has been tough, but has nothing to show for it over their last four games, all losses, by a total of nine points.  Teams can sweat their way through these nailbiters against YSU, but be guaranteed that there isn’t a team in the Horizon League who wants to draw the Penguins in the upcoming conference tournament.

Thursday night, it was Troy Tabler, with half a second left, throwing up a prayer from the corner, with a hand in his face to extend YSU’s misery.  The Penguins will use these close losses as motivation.  In all likelihood, Wright State will be the #2 seed in the tournament.  YSU also played Butler tough.  Everyone knows they can hang, nobody wants to see the Penguins, who have yet to put together a full 40 minute effort this season.

Wright State jumped out to an early lead but Youngstown State went up 8-7 with seven minutes gone. Vytas Sulskis showcased his defensive skills as he pinned an attempted Raiders layup against the backboard for a nice block.

The Raiders jumped out to a 15-10 lead with 11:12 remaining in the first half.  Dallas Blocker, who played a good portion of the second half with a bleeding nose,  got a hard-earned bucket on an offensive rebound and putback to trim the deficit to three.

Todd Brown rattled off five straight points for the Raiders to bolster their lead to 22-19 with 7:58 remaining in the opening half.  Sirlester Martin, who had been struggling, showed signs of a big game when he first hit a baseline jumper and later hit a layup while fouled.  It was Martin’s first successful free throw in six games.  Martin then nailed a three with just over five minutes remaining in the half to give YSU their first lead of the game at 24-22.

YSU upped their lead to 32-23 on a Zack Rebillot jumper.  Ashen Ward nailed a three with 2:09 left putting YSU ahead 35-23. The Penguins played up to thier capabilities on both ends of the court in what may have been their most complete stretch in a Horizon League game all season.

Wright State (19-10, 12-6) battled back from down twelve to down three using a 9-0 run to close out the first half.  At intermission, YSU was in front, 35-32, and squandered their huge margin.  Martin paced YSU with 14 first half points and Ward chipped in with ten.  Wright State got nine points apiece from Brown and Vaughn Duggins.

YSU held a 49-43 lead with 13:49 left in the game.  Ward hit a pair of free throws to give him 12 points for the game, a career high.  Sulskis scored in consecutive trips on offense for the Penguins who maintained a slight lead at 53-51 with 11:07 left in the game.

Wright State nabbed their first lead of the second half as Troy Tabler nailed a three to put the Raiders up by a point.  Martin hit a bucket for the Penguins to reclaim the lead, but the way the Penguins were playing late in close games, more than a one point lead would be a blessing.

Wright State came into the game as the best free throw shooting team in the league but struggled from the line going 13-21 as Brown missed a pair with 3:46 left in the game which opened the door for YSU.  Sulskis took an inbounds pass to make a layup and give the Penguins a short-lived lead.  Brown atoned for his lackluster efforts at the line when he stole the ball, drove half the court and slammed the Raiders into a 68-64 lead with 2:57 left in the game.

With the Raiders in front, 70-66, and 1:23 left, DeAndre Mays hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 70-68. Wright State’s Ronnie Thomas was fouled after gathering an offensive rebound, but Wright State continued to kill themselves at the line as he missed both.  On the rebound of the second miss, Sulskis was fouled and hit both to tie the game at 70.  With the rebound, Sulskis posted a double-double, his second of the year.

Duggins buried a pair of clutch free throws with 43 seconds left to make it a 72-70 advantage for the visitors from Dayton.  Mays drew a foul with 37 seconds left and hit one of two.  Tabler was fouled for the Raiders with 28 seconds left, where he hit one of two to raise the lead back to two.  Sulskis answered with his fifteenth point to tie the game.

Troy Tabler then launched his game-winning prayer and threw up a high-arcing desperation three that found a way in.  Another late dagger which sent the Penguins to another close defeat, losing their last four by a total of nine heartbreaking points.

Coach Slocum commented on the devastating loss.  “They shot 32 free throws and we only shot 18 in our house.  Our kids played very hard and have been fighting every game over the past three weeks.  They have to keep their pride.”

After a 57-38 loss to Wright State on Thursday, Youngstown State Coach Cindy Martin and her staff (pictured), who I still feel will prove worthy in the end, scraped for positives.  “Wright State executed their gameplan tonight.  I am proud of the effort we had on defense, but we turned the ball over too many times and missed layups, I think we beat ourselves a little”, declared Coach Martin after the loss.

Turnovers plagued Martin’s Penguins, but the points off of those turnovers killed any chance YSU had to end their season-long 26 game skid. 

Wright State held a 18-10 lead with 9:07 left in the first half.  The Raiders were taking better shots than the Penguins in the early going.  The higher percentage shots were mainly layups and short jumpers. Youngstown State, conversely, was unsuccessful in getting the ball to Brandi Brown in the post.

The Raiders upped their margin to ten points at 28-18 with 3:47 left in the first half.  Macey Nortey hit a nice baseline jumper to cut into the Raider lead.  However, the Penguins committed 13 first-half turnovers. Off of those miscues, Wright State held a 16-0 advantage in points off of turnovers.

With 10:39 left in the game, Kenya Middlebrooks hit a three which cut the Wright State lead to 14, at 44-30.  Both teams struggled on offense over the next six minutes.  With 4:21 remaining, YSU trailed 49-33.

Wright State, only dressing seven players, lost 6’1″ Molly Fox with just over four minutes left in the game. Boki Dimitrov hit a three to make it 52-36.  LaShawna Thomas picked up the slack for Wright State, scoring three consecutive baskets and keeping the margin comfortably in the double-digits for the Raiders.

Youngstown State could only muster one point off of 14 Wright State turnovers.  Wright State, on the other hand, finished with 21 points off of 19 YSU errors, the difference in the game.

Wright State 57, YSU 38, for a final as the Penguins dropped to 0-26 and just cant seem to knock the monkey off of their backs.

Saturday will be the last attempt at home as Youngstown State welcomes Detroit, tipoff for that contest is set for 4:35, or a half-hour after the men’s game in the Senior Day doubleheader.

In the Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family went West in hopes of finding a way to prosper during tough times.  Youngstown State found themselves in that role Saturday night, as they went West in hopes of finding a way to prosper during tough times. 

Unfortunately, Youngstown State ended up losing their BracketBuster contest against UC Riverside, 62-60, in a real thriller.  Trailing by as many as 11 points, the Penguins rallied in the second half to tie the game at 60 on a Vytas Sulskis jumper with just 24 seconds to play.

UC Riverside’s Lateef McMullan took a shot with three seconds left that missed the mark.  David Chavarria grabbed the offensive board and hit a jumper just before the buzzard to boost the Highlanders (11-15) past the Penguins (8-19).

Kyle Austin took high scoring honors for UC Riverside with 13 points.  Vytas Sulskis (pictured) was the only Penguin to hit double digits and finished with 18 points for Youngstown State.

Coach Jerry Slocum and his Penguins have been so close but cannot seem to find the right combination of artillery to break through for a win.  YSU has lost their last three games by a total of six points.