Penguins upset Kent, 75-70

Ryan Patton's 22 points led YSU back from a 16-point deficit.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- It might have been one of the biggest basketball upsets in Youngstown State University history. It was, for sure, the biggest win this season for the YSU men's team.
Saturday, the Penguins overcame a 16-point second-half deficit to pull out a 75-70 win over Kent State University before a crowd of more than 3,000 fans at Beeghly Center.
Senior point guard Ryan Patton riddled the hoops for 22 points to lead all scorers, while freshman guard Doug Underwood added 17 points and senior Steve Flores chipped in with 15 points.
The win, only the second this season for the Penguins, came against a team that was 4-2 and had played well against nationally-ranked Kentucky.
The Penguins (2-5) will return to action on Wednesday when they play host to Robert Morris College at 7 p.m. at Beeghly Center.
Second-best win: "What a great game for us right now," Youngstown State coach John Robic said. "I'd say it ranks as the second-best win since I've been here, and the crowd was just amazing; they were so loud.
"I just hope that all 3,168 of them return on Wednesday night and bring two friends."
The Penguins, who trailed by 16 points (49-33) with 16:34 remaining in the game, put on a final rally led by Underwood and Patton to pull out the win. The victory snapped a five-game losing streak for the Penguins.
Underwood scored 12 of his 17 points during a five-minute stretch in the half as the Penguins went from 16 points behind to just three, 53-50.
It was Patton who tied up the contest with his first free throw with 2:59 remaining. His second gave YSU the first lead of the game.
Patton also added two more as YSU went up 70-67.
The Penguins led 71-67 when Underwood made one of two free throws, but Kent's Anthony Wilkins hit a 3-pointer to cut the margin to one with 11.4 seconds left.
Ryan was fouled with 8.6 seconds remaining and made two more free throws.
Close call: When Kent's Trevor Huffman missed a 3-point shot with two seconds remaining, freshman Jimmy Moore rebounded for YSU, was fouled and made two more shots for the final score.
"We really came together as a team tonight," said Patton, who also dished out eight assists. "We also played shorthanded since Rafael [Cruz] went down, but they all really picked it up."
Cruz, the 6-3 senior guard, suffered a knee injury in the first half and didn't return to action. Robic said that they wouldn't know anything until today, but it doesn't look good.
The Penguins are expected to get back sophomores TeJay Anderson and Khari McQueen, who both missed the team's first seven games because of academics. They become eligible Monday.
Kent State coach Stan Heath praised the Penguins.
"You have to give Youngstown a lot of credit; they never gave up," Heath said. "We didn't play our best tonight and we were without 6-9 Nate Gerwig, who didn't play for disciplinary reasons.
"We just couldn't put the game away and early on we didn't finish plays and missed some layups."
Slow start: The Penguins started slowly, going nearly five minutes before getting their first points, while the Flashes jumped out to a 9-0 lead.
The Penguins trailed 12-2 with 14:40 remaining before they scored six points and cut the Kent lead to 17-8.
Wilkins connected on a 3-point shot for Kent's 23-8 lead, but the Penguins came right back and scored six straight points to pull to within nine, 25-16.
YSU could get no closer in the half as the Flashes made five free throws and three more buckets to lead 38-22. Patton hit a driving layup just before the buzzer to cut the lead to 38-24 at the half.
The Penguins were outrebounded 24-14 in the half and outshot 45.8 to 38.2.
mollica@vindy.com