Archive for the ‘YSU Basketball’ Category

Youngstown State’s Lady Penguins returned home for a matinee against Cleveland State.  For the Penguins, it was another chance at ‘the end’ of the streak, aka, the losing streak that has plagued the Penguins since 2009.  YSU would have to wait until Thursday for another shot as Cleveland State overwhelmed the Lady Penguins by posting a 68-38 win.

Saturday also served as Youngstown State Alumni Day.  Former Lady Penguin standouts from the past were honored at halftime.  Current Penguin, Boki Dimitrov, commented on the festivities. “It’s really nice to be around all of the ladies who have played here. I liked meeting them and am happy they came out today.”

Youngstown State hung with the Vikings in the early going as the score was tied at 8-8 with eight minutes elapsed in the first half. However, Cleveland State applied daunting full-court pressure giving the Penguins fits to even get into their half-court offense.

At the half, the Vikings (13-12, 8-6 HL) were comfortably ahead at 33-17.  Angel Roque provided a spark off of the bench for the Vikings by connecting on three of four first half three-point shots.  The Lady Penguins were paced by Kenya Middlebrooks and Brandi Brown who combined for 13 points and 12 rebounds.  Youngstown State only shot 24% from the field in the half.

With 15:26 left in the game, Cleveland State expanded their lead to 25 points, holding a 44-19 lead.  Brandi Brown, Youngstown State’s most consistent player all season, posted her twelfth double-double when she yanked down her tenth rebound with 14:21 left.  Brown finished the game with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

The Vikings had nine players with anywhere from 6-11 points showing a very well-balanced attack.  Angel Roque took top scoring honors with 11 points, all in the first half.  Her sister, Jessica Roque finished with seven points and seven rebounds.

Kenya Middlebrooks had a nice game for Youngstown State finishing with 11 points and eight rebounds. Only four of the eight Penguins who dressed scored a point.

Cleveland State must have felt like they were in a contest to see how many points they could win by. The Vikings hoisted three-pointers in five consecutive trips up the floor.  At least they stopped pressing with a 63-33 lead and 2:56 left in the game.  Hopefully, Coach Martin etches some mental notes about things like this so when she has a bench and options, she can return the favor of bullying a team.

After the game, Martin commented on the constant threes and pressure in the second half.  “I am not mad at all. It’s a part of the game for their coaches to have players play their game, which is pretty much layups and threes. If I were in that situation, I would want my team to work hard and try to improve, I don’t believe there was any intent to do anything outside of their normal gameplan.”

Youngstown State welcomes Wright State to Beeghly Center on Thursday as the first game of a doubleheader to be followed by the men.

Many ladies who have graced the Beeghly Center Court were on hand Saturday afternoon for a recognition ceremony held at halftime. The alumni also participated in a game before the YSU-Cleveland State contest.  Honorary coaches for the game were Matt Lipcsak and Ed DiGregorio.  “Coach D ” had the advantage because Lipcsak had about 319 less wins, but in an upset, the unheralded former uber manager pulled out the win in overtime.

Kelsey Gurganus, one of the alumni, commented on the turnout. “It was really cool to see some of the ladies I played with. It was also nice to meet some of the players that were integral in the success of building YSU basketball.”

Velissa Vaughn, who doubles as a MYTV Broadcaster for the women’s games, talked about the future of the program under Coach Martin. “Coach Martin will be fine. Once she recruits a few more players and gets back the players who were recruited for this year who are out, you are going to see a very different team.”

Anne-Marie Martin shared the sentiments of Vaughn. “It’s definitely a rebuilding year. With a new coach in her second year, she really hasn’t coached ‘her own’ team yet. She is doing a great job recruiting and maximizing what she has to work with. I have been to about four games this season and I will continue to follow.”

Even my pal, Matt Lipcsak was part of the honors. Matt was a manager who always did all he could for the benefit of the teams he was affiliated with. “I never played a single minute at Youngstown State, but I honestly did all I could to benefit the program in any way I could while I was here. I feel very privelaged that they consider me a part of the family.”

The alumni gathering and the current roster mingled after the game in the Beeghly Center’s Coaches Court. It was nice to see the current team, coaches and players, fraternizing with the alumni.  It has been a tough year and this is one of the nice things that the current Penguins will be able to take away as a positive memory.

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.

Sirlester Martin was the glue of the Youngstown State Basketball Team last season.  This year he has help, a team full of guys still trying to win games.  With the upcoming BracketBusters game on Fenruary 20th, nobody has to remind Martin that if this team can catch fire and play a stretch of complete games, that the sky is still the limit.  Martin stands at 6’7″ and grew up in Memphis, Tennessee and has been the most consistent rebounder the Penguins have had through the last couple of seasons.  I recently sat down with Martin and discussed everything from Coach Slocum being on Survivor to X-Box to academic standing.

Paneech:  What is it going to take for you guys to make some noise in your conference tournament?

Martin:  We have to be tough and stay disciplined on defense.  We have to box out and do all of the small things all the time. 

Paneech:  You recently had a game on ESPNU.  People came out of the woodwork to see.  How much of that do you guys really take in?

Martin:  Well, what we do when we go into any game is not focus on the fans.  We just try to motivate each other and keep one another going.  The bench has to have life, everyone has to stand up and be clapping.  We use the extra energy from the bench to keep our guys going.  We don’t focus on the stands or who is watching us. 

Paneech:  So when there is a packed house chanting “De-Fense“, you can’t hear it?

Martin:  I mean, you can hear it, but you kind of block it out because you are focused. 

Paneech:  Comment on Coach Slocum.  He is an emotional guy.  Could you see him on a reality show like Survivor?

Martin:  Coach Slocum is a real interesting guy.  I have played for many coaches and he [Slocum] definitely has his own way of doing things.  He does have alot of passion for the game, but I think we all do.  As far as seeing him in another role, he thinks he is pretty funny.  I could see him doing some stand-up comedy or something like that.  Maybe doing a radio show where he can open up.

Paneech:  How did you get to Youngstown State, and what other options were available to you?

Martin:  I came out of Walters State Community College in East Tennessee.  I played two years there.  My freshman year, I played pretty well and in my sophomore season, we went to the nationals and finished the season 32-3.  Coach Mike [Wernicki] came up and seen me.  I was recruited but had a problem with some hours that Summer that I had to get finished.  Some schools would not wait around, but Youngstown State stood behind me and waited on me. 

Paneech:  How has the education been at Youngstown State?

Martin:  It has gone pretty well.  I asked around when I got here about different things to do as far as declaring my major.  I took general studies for the first couple of years.  I am leaning towards social work when I graduate.  I would like to work with juveniles and help straighten their lives out.  I came from an atmosphere that was tough, so I feel I can relate to what they are going through.  The classes at Youngstown State are challenging, and I love this school.

Paneech:  Do you watch any other sports, or just basketball?

Martin:  I used to watch alot of football, I was a wide receiver in high school.  Mostly though, I watch the Cavs.  They might be able to make a run, but it’s gonna be tough without Delonte [West] and Mo [Williams].  Shaq could turn out to be ok for them, but anything can happen.

Paneech:  Walk me through a day from start to finish.

Martin:  I wake up, go to my 8 o’clock class,  then I come here [Beeghly Center] and head up to the coaches office.  I do some studying or watch some film until my next class starts at ten.  Usually, I will come back to Beeghly, work out, and get to take some shots before practice.  Go through practice, shower, and then head home.  Depending on the day or the way I feel, I will stay and get more work done and then go home.  Once I get home, eat something, and then just watch some TV or play a video game.  After that, I relax and talk on the phone.  I usually call it a day around 11:30.

One Word Answers:

Favorite Fast Food:  McDonalds.

Favorite Drink:  Snapple Juice.

Biggest Phobia: Snakes.

Worst Habit:  Procrastinating.

Favorite Video Game:  Street Fighter and UFC

Best Show On TV:  The Game and Rayjay.

Best Movie Ever Made:  Waist Deep.

Favorite Cereal:  Lucky Charms.

Favorite Candy:  Gummy Bears.

Favorite Toy As A Child:  My wrestling men.  Hulk Hogan, Sting.

Best Class Taken at YSU:  Psychology.

 

Youngstown State University had to play with nothing left to lose.  After all, the Penguins dropped the first meeting 91-61 on January 16 and wanted to pick up some steam heading into Bracketbusters on Feb. 20.  Surely a win, or at least a good showing against #15 Butler shoud help compile confidence.

Half of the battle was won, as the Penguins made a respectable showing against the powerful Bulldogs ultimately falling 68-57.  Butler (22-4, 15-0) clinched the Horizon League Championship with the win and is very capable of advancing a few rounds in the NCAA Tournament come March. 

With 12:44 left in the first half, Butler raced out to a 16-8 lead, but Ashen Ward gathered in a long deflection and hit a cutting DeAndre Mays for a pair to cut the early Bulldog lead to six points. 

The Penguins cut the lead to one point at the 8:05 mark on a Kelvin Bright three-pointer.  Youngstown State was playing a great game defensively in the early going.  With Butler ahead 18-17, Mays nailed a three to give YSU their first lead of the game.  Vytas Sulskis hit another to put YSU up 23-18 as the large Beeghly Center crowd got loud.

The Penguins extended their lead to seven with 4:17 left in the first half when Mays hit a layup for his twelfth point of the half.  It was the first half that no one would have expected and the lead grew to eight.  Unfortunately for Youngstown State, things started unraveling and Butler used a blast of offense to take a halftime lead and had an 11-2 run to put themselves a point in front of Youngstown State at 31-30.

Butler took advantage of shoddy YSU ball control to start the second half.  Over the first seven minutes, the Penguins turned the ball over five times.  Coach Jerry Slocum commented on the poor second half start.  “We had five turnovers in our first six possessions in the second half.  This game was lost during those first seven minutes of the second half.  You can’t keep a good team like that down too long when you have that many empty possessions.  Another turning point in the game was when [Matt] Howard got his fourth foul and they want one big and four small, we did not match up well at that point.”

Butler was paced by Gordon Hayward (pictured) who finished the contest with 22 points and 17 rebounds, more than half of his team total of 31.  The 6’9″ Sophomore Guard was 8-9 from the free throw line and played a very well-rounded 36 minutes.  Zach Hahn seemed to keep the Penguins at bay down the stretch as his eight points all came at crucial times.

Butler Coach Brad Stevens was happy to escape with the win.  “This time of the year you just try to take a win, get better, and move on.  The guards and players for YSU scare every coach in this conference because when they get it going, they are really hard to stop.  They played a great game and it is a big road win for us.”

Butler heads to Cleveland State next for a Saturday matchup where they have had fits.  Youngstown State (8-16, 2-12) hosts Valparaiso Saturday night.

It would be unfair to use every old adage in the book to describe how close the YSU Women were to their first victory.  Unfortunately for the Lady Penguins, the last couple of possessions were catastrophic and Loyola (11-10, 5-5) escaped Youngstown with a 63-59 triumph in a competitive game that went down to the wire.

Loyola, sky-high, after upsetting nationally ranked Green Bay in their last game ran into a buzzsaw they did not expect, Youngstown State.  The Lady Penguins have had a rough go of it this season battling injuries and carrying the unfortunate banner as the only Division-I program without a win.  However, YSU looked like anything but a winless and shorthanded team as they gave Loyola everything they could handle.

The YSU Penguins had an 11-10 lead with 11:04 to play in the first half.  Kenya Middlebrooks got fouled after she picked the pocket of Loyola’s Shannon Finnegan.  The resulting bucket was a nice power move by Brandi Brown.  At the 7:17 mark, the Lady Penguins found themselves down 16-15 when Finnegan converted a fastbreak.

Macey Nortey connected from just inside the arc to cut the Ramblers lead to 33-28 at the half.  The Penguins had fallen behind by ten, but rallied before the intermission buzzard.  Brown, Rachael Manuel and Boki Dimitrov combined to score 21 of YSU’s 28 points.  For Loyola, Monica Albano threw in ten first-half points.  YSU shot 70% from the free throw line in the half compared to Loyola’s 20%, yet Loyola held the lead.

Youngstown State was playing like a hungry team.  With 13:58 left in the game, the Loyola lead which was as high as seven in the second half was trimmed to just two.  Manuel was having perhaps her best all-around game.  Her pair of free throws tied the contest at 42.

Over the next five minutes, Loyola took an eight point lead and YSU came back to trail only by two at 53-51 with 6:58 left in the game.  Nortey had a game-tying bucket at the 6:36 mark and YSU was striving for that elusive first victory.  Elyse Vanbogaert hit a couple of shots to give Loyola some breathing space with 4:15 left in the game giving her Ramblers a 59-56 advantage.

YSU tied the game at 59 with 1:40 left in the game when Brandi Brown scored underneath.  With 31 seconds left, Vanbogaert connected for her game-high 18th points off of an offensive rebound putting Loyola back on top, 61-59.  After a YSU timeout, the Penguins inbounded but could not get off a good shot.  YSU was held scoreless over the last 2:32 of the game. 

Middlebrooks fouled with 5.5 seconds left in the game to put Maggie McCloskey on the line for a one-and-one.  She hit both shots to make it a two-possession lead for the Ramblers.

Rachael Manuel (pictured) finished the game with a double-double for the Penguins.  The Senior from Illinois ended the game with twelve points and ten rebounds in her best all-around effort of the season.  “The game went well tonight, I thought the flow on our team felt good.  Despite the loss, it was a good situation to be in and we will use it as a building block for our game on Saturday [vs UIC]”.  Brandi Brown also picked up another double-double for Youngstown State.

After the game, Coach Martin showered her team with praise.   “This is much easier to deal with than being blown out by 30.  Anytime you can execute in a tight game when you have not been in a tight game all year shows that the ladies had poise and confidence and they executed to a tee.  I am extremely proud that they kept their composure.”  Kudos to the entire staff to prepare an 0-20 team to come out and fight the way they did.

The casual college basketball fan would see that North Carolina Central had four wins and 17 losses coming into Youngstown State. What the casual basketball fan does not know is that this NCC team has lost to North Carolina, Iowa, Indiana, Miami (Fl), SMU, Ball State, Air Force, and Virginia Tech.

The Penguins had a balanced scoring attack and took good shots in getting by UNCC, 70-57.  The win snaps a four-game losing streak, but according to Sirlester Martin, the victory goes further than that.  “It felt good to get the win but it really helps us get ready for a league game this weekend.”

Youngstown State (8-12) did the right things according to their Coach, Jerry Slocum.  “We did the things you have to do to win basketball games.  When they cut it to seven, I thought we were patient and kept our composure.  We made free throws at important times in the game, and those are things you have to do to win.”

Dan Boudler tied things up at 15 with 11:51 left to go in the first half when he tipped in a partially tipped Vytas Sulskis shot. On the next possession, Sulskis hit a three that wasn’t tipped as the Penguins took an 18-15 lead with 9:41 remaining in the half, triggering an 11-0 Penguins run that would span over the next three plus minutes.

At the half, Youngstown State held a 32-21 lead.  Sulskis finished the first half leading the Penguins in scoring with eight points. Nick Chasten finished the first half leading all scorers with 11 of his teams 21 points.

With 11:28 remaining in the contest, YSU maintained their double-digit lead at 46-36.  Sulskis buried a three with the shot clock near zero giving the hometown the feeling that things were clicking.  Coach Slocum picked up a technical foul when he argued that an Eagles defender hit the rim.  Moments later, CJ Wilkerson hit a jumper to cut the Penguins lead to 49-42.

DeAndre Mays connected for three after the lead had been cut to four points to put the Penguins in front, 52-45.  Kelvin Bright was intentionally fouled meaning he got to shoot a pair of free throws and the Penguins retained possession.  Dallas Blocker got in on the action as he hit a pair of free throws to push the YSU lead back to double digits at 55-45 with 7:58 left in regulation.

With 3:44 left in the game, YSU pushed their lead to 64-47 when Sirlester Martin hit a 15-foot jumper.  CJ Wilkerson connected for his eighteenth points of the second half and had 26 in the game, leading all scorers, to keep his Eagles within striking distnace.  YSU thwarted any comeback when Bright hit a nice floating sweep through the paint.

Youngstown State showed good balance and poise in holding on for a 70-57 victory.  Balanced scoring for the Penguins translates to four players with at least 11 points and DeAndre Mays leading the way with 17.  For UNCC, CJ Wilkerson finished the game with 26 points.

Next up for YSU is Cleveland State on Saturday as the Penguins start to see Horizon League opponents for the second time.  Tip-off is set for 4:00 and the game can be heard on AM-570 with Robb Schmidt calling the action.

Macey Nortey is the first player ever recruited by Coach Cindy Martin.  Martin and her staff have a good eye for talent, which will be better proven over the next couple of seasons as these recruits gain experience.  Nortey, who constantly hustles, was leading the Horizon League in assists for a good part of the season.  It is hard not to root for a 5’3″ spark plug of energy who still maintains a frequent smile off of the court despite the winless season.  It surely isn’t apathy that she is expressing, it is just who she is.

Paneech:  Doing a bit of research, I noticed you were born in Toronto.  You now call California home, so are you an American citizen?

Nortey:  I am not an American citizen and I still have my Canadian citizenship.  Maybe when I am done with school, I will apply for dual-citizenship. 

Paneech:  Anyone who comes from California to Youngstown has to hate this weather.

Nortey:  I love cold weather and don’t like the heat very much.  I was actually upset that it wasn’t very cold through most of January.  There are three of us from California on the team,  Brandi [Brown] and Maryum [Jenkins] both live about an hour from me in California.  We will be hanging out alot over the next few years.  Really the biggest difference between here and Cali is that everything in Cali is fast.  Here, everything is so much more mellow.

Paneech:  How did you end up at Youngstown State and what did it feel like being the first ever recruit of Coach Martin?

Nortey:  They came and found me.  My mentor was actually very good friends with Coach Martin, so they connected with each other and came to see me in Long Beach.  I was not recruited by any California schools and was considering going the junior college route, but luckily, I ended up here.  I was Coach Martins first recruit.  (At this point I couldn’t resist asking…  Do you think she recruited you because she needed someone shorter than her to coach?-Nortey laughed for a minute).  Actually, with my shoes on I am 5’3″, without them, I am only 5’1″, but you never see me on the court without my shoes on, so technically, I am 5’3″.

 

Paneech:  Your assist numbers have dropped a little.  What can you do to reclaim your place atop the league in that category?

Nortey:  I have gotten away from the things I was doing at the beginning of the year and I need to get back to doing them.  I know that I need to set my teammates up and I have really been working on that in practice this week.  I’m a passer and I like to set people up. 

Paneech:  You have three more years, when can we expect this losing streak to end?  How much of losing comes from having virtually no bench?

Nortey:  It is going to end alot sooner than later.  In fact, I really feel like this upcoming road trip that we have got it.  They can’t guard our bigs and anything can happen on any given night.  With a short bench, when you pick up a foul, you can still play “D”, but you have to watch.  You can’t really have a ‘sneak attack’.  It’s tough and we have learned.  Obviously our results are not what we want, but we have learned plenty.

Paneech:  How is it working out when you go on the road for a few days and have to miss classes?  Are the teachers accomodating or do they make it tough on you?

Nortey:  Personally, my teachers have been really cool with it.  I recently had to switch one of my classes and have only actually been to that class once.  The professor has done a great job of keeping me informed through e-mails, we are e-mailing back and forth and she sends me the work I need to do.  Overall, the professors here are really cool about the situation and getting us our work.  As a student, you have to stay on top of it, you can’t just procrastinate and say, ‘I’ll do it when I get back’.

Paneech:  Walk me through a day from the time you wake up until you go to sleep.

Nortey:  I wake up, brush my teeth, grab a bite to eat and head out for class and you can’t be late.  I sit through my morning classes for about three hours, come to treatment after class if I need it, then I grab lunch.  After lunch is films, and then practice.  Stretch, practice, and if we do not do a study hall, I go home and do my homework.  I watch some TV, eat dinner somewhere and then go to sleep.  On a good night, I will go to sleep around 10.

 

One Word Answers

Biggest Phobia:  Being trapped under something.

Favorite Breakfast Cereal:  Frosted Flakes.

Best Show On Television:  Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

Worst Habit:  Never Listening To My Mom’s Voicemails.

Favorite WNBA/NBA Player:  Steve Nash.

Who Wins The Super Bowl:  Saints.  🙂

What Other Sports Do You Watch:  Tennis and Soccer.  I think the Williams Sisters will square off in Australia with Venus winning.

Favorite Toy As A Child:  My Jeep car.

Favorite Fast Food:  Burger King since they don’t have Wing Stop here. 

Favorite Holiday:  Christmas.

Favorite Drink:  Chocolate Yoohoo.

Would you rather live in Youngstown, Canada, or California?  Can I pick all three?

 

Courage. It is a word that bends many different ways.  Cancer. It is a word that doesn’t show mercy and sometimes has a long and tragic meaning.  Don’t get me wrong, plenty of courageous people have lost battles with cancer and paid with their lives.  Dallas Blocker is one of the courageous who survived and to hear his story weakened me.  Mad respect to the big 6’9″ Youngstown State Senior for openly talking about his fight with the evil disease.

Paneech: Talk to me about the battle you had with cancer.

Blocker: As of right now, I am free of it.  At first it was rough because you are not used to it.  You think, ‘old people get cancer’ not people who are 21 years of age, so it really hit hard at first.  I was diagnosed with testicular cancer.  I went through four rounds of chemotherapy and I would go five days a week for about six hours a day.  I would sit in a chair while they pump stuff into my blood through an IV.  For the first couple of weeks I was fine, and I was functioning as normal.  After that second time, it kind of hit me.  All of my hair started falling out and off of my body, and my energy level went way down.  I was struggling to go up a flight of steps. I was eating real good, I like mexican and spicier foods, but by the third or fourth treatment I could not hold anything down.  I would be with Andy Timko in the Summer, and we would like to go out to eat.  We were just talking about it the other day, he would see me run off to the bathroom and he knew I just couldn’t keep anything down.

Paneech:  Did your fight with cancer give you a different outlook on the life you lead?

Blocker:  Going through what I did, I look at every day as a blessing to be here. Days are more important to me now.  Before all of this, I would just go through life with a ‘who cares about this’ attitude.  Now I am really concentrating on school and my future because I am not going to be playing basketball forever.  I am transitioning to being an adult and will graduate with a degree to teach in a year.  The whole thing has opened me up and made me a more mature person.

Paneech: Using a bad situation to make something positive from can transition to this basketball team you are on.  How does YSU pick itself up and move forward?

Blocker: We [the five seniors] are looking at it as our last chance.  We all have a role on this team and have to buy into Coach Slocum’s system.  Right now, not everyone has bought into the system and we are playing as individuals.  We actually had a meeting after practice where DeAndre Mays stood up and reminded everyone that everyone is starting to fall off and we need to circle the wagons and get back into it.  We have eleven games left in the season and if a team gets hot in this sport at the right time they could go pretty far.  We still believe we can get hot enough to still make it to the NCAA Tournament if we can get going that well.

Paneech: What changes can Coach Slocum make and how do you compete with a team like Butler?

Blocker:  Butler is just an all-around great team.  They are beatable and have their flaws though.  We had them on their backs at times but had a bunch of unforced errors that they took advantage of and that is what they [Butler] do best.  Coach Slocum wears his heart on his sleeve.  You always know where he is at emotionally.  When he is down, he is really down.  He tells us everyday at practice that he is not going to change, and he never does.  He has very good character and I like the attitude he brings to practice.

Paneech: What NBA player do you like?

Blocker: I’m not really a big fan of the NBA, I would much rather watch college basketball.  If I had to pick a player I would say Kevin Garnett because of the way he prides himself as a great defensive player.

Paneech: I have seen a little change on offense where it seems the big guys are getting more chances to score.  What brought that on?

Blocker: I brought that up a couple of weeks ago.  DeAndre [Mays] and Sirlester [Martin] are going to shoot the ball.  After one of them hits a few shots, the defense is going to adjust to them, so why not dump it down in the post.  When we score a couple of times, the defense will adjust again and then we can kick it back out to our pure shooters.

One Word Answers

Favorite Meal Of The Day: Dinner.

Best Fast Food: Taco Bell.

Biggest Phobia: Maybe being claustrophobic, maybe.

Worst Habit: (laughs)  Lying.

Favorite Soft Drink: Dr. Pepper.  Cherry Dr. Pepper is ok too.

What Do You Get On Your Pizza: Meat Lover’s.

Last Book You Read Not For School: The New Moon from the Twilight Series.

The Hardest Thing You Ever Had To Do: Survive Cancer.

Worst Class You Had At YSU: Math for teachers.  I got a B but the content was so boring.

The Biggest World Problem That Needs Fixed: The economy.

Favorite Childhood Toy: My Ultimate Warrior action figures.

Youngstown State University had been struggling all season to maintain consistency. This year, the team has shown signs of being able to hang with anybody, and conversely being error-prone and careless while struggling.  The majority of Sunday afternoon’s game against Wisconsin-Green Bay was the careless version of YSU Basketball. 

Youngstown State fell to 7-12 (2-8 Horizon League) as Green Bay capitalized on poor second half Penguins free throw shooting and handled the Penguins, 69-55. 

“At one point, we missed seven or eight foul shots in a row.  We are playing as bad of basketball as we have played in the last three or four years and it is very diappointing to see us playing with such lifelessness”, was about all Coach Jerry Slocum had to say at the end of this one.

At the 7:48 mark of the first half, the Penguins were caught somewhere in between doing the little things needed to win and not doing the big things well. Green Bay had a 23-17 lead when Kelvin Bright connected from just inside the foul line with a nice fadeaway jumper to cut the lead to three.

With Green Bay over the first half limit, Ashen Ward was fouled grabbing a defensive rebound. Ward swished both ends of a one-and-one to pull the Penguins to a two-point deficit.  Troy Cotton, who had 14 points with 3:51 left in the first half, buried a three to extend the Wisconsin-Green Bay lead to 31-26.  Cotton finished the game with a career-high seven three-pointers.

At halftime, the Phoenix held a 33-30 lead.  Cotton was the overall scoring leader with 14 points.  The Penguins were staying in the game with good free throw shooting (11-14, 78.6%), a luxury they had not enjoyed often this season.

Bryquis Perine was whistled for a technical foul at the 17:39 mark as he and Dallas Blocker were doing a little extra-curricular pushing and shoving while jogging up the court together. The penalty would be insignificant as Mays missed both free throws and a walking call awarded the Phoenix possession to keep the score at 40-36.

Cotton hit another three, his fifth of the game, to stretch the Green Bay lead to 47-40 with 12:25 left in regulation. Rian Pearson hit a layup while being fouled, hit the free throw, and the Penguins suddenly trailed 50-40 in a game they had not held the lead in.

With just under four minutes remaining in the contest, Milwaukee pushed the lead to 16 points at 65-49, their largest lead of the game. Rahmon Fletcher hit a three in the corner to give the Phoenix the increased advantage. The Penguns were really struggling to find solutions to trim the margin as they had gone nearly eight full minutes without a field goal.  As the time clicked away, Green Bay (15-7, 7-3) maintained a comfortable cushion and turned back the Penguins, 69-55.

YSU welcomes non-conference opponent North Carolina Central on Wednesday night for a 7:05 tip-off at the Beeghly Center.