YOUNGSTOWN STATE It was good to be back home

Kennedy Catholic's John Reimold scored 16 points in Bowling Green's romp.
YOUNGSTOWN -- John Reimold waited almost five years to play within shouting distance of his old high school.
Saturday at Beeghly Center, he and Bowling Green teammate Josh Almanson made sure the trip was an enjoyable one.
Reimold scored 16 points and Almanson poured in a career-high 28, leading the Falcons to an 81-59 victory over Youngstown State.
Reimold, a 2000 graduate of Kennedy Catholic High, where he helped the Eagles to three state championships, also had four assists and a team-best six rebounds, as Bowling Green (5-1) bolted from a 9-6 lead with a 17-0 run in the first half and never looked back.
"We want to come out as aggressive as we can," said Reimold. "Today we played really well on defense and we got good shots on offense. The key was, we made those shots."
Almost perfect
Almanson, especially, made his shots. The 6-foot-8 senior was 11-of-13 from the floor, including a 3-pointer.
"Guys were setting really good screens for me and giving pretty easy layups," said Almanson, the team's second-leading scorer this season by Reimold.
Almanson was also important in Bowling Green's defense, which limited the Penguins to 42 percent shooting (21-of-50). The Falcons outscored Youngstown State in the paint, 34-20.
"A big point of emphasis for today was playing post defense," said Almanson. "We wanted to lock down on the post and our guards really did a good job of helping."
Quin Humphrey scored 16 points and had three assists to lead Youngstown State (2-4), which lost its fourth straight game.
Off the bench
Zach Silverman came off the bench to score 12; both he and Humphrey knocked down a couple of 3-pointers, but the Penguins' 6-for-21 shooting outside the arc and the aforementioned dominance inside by Bowling Green made the afternoon a long one.
"We're not playing very good basketball right now," said Youngstown State coach John Robic.
A basket by Humphrey with 16 minutes, 39 seconds remaining in the first half got the Penguins to within 9-6. An Almanson jumper started Bowling Green on its 17-0 run, punctuated by slam dunk three-point play by Steven Wright.
Youngstown State answered with a 10-4 run that got the home team to within 14 points, 30-16, but the Falcons scored the next 10 points over a span of just a little more than three minutes to make it 40-16.
The Penguins never got closer than 19 the remainder of the game.
"Youngstown State played really hard," said Reimold. "They were just not knocking their shots down.
"We're playing really well right now," he added. "In the past we've had a tendency to relax when we were playing well. It's going to be important for us to stay focused."
Team leader
Bowling Green coach Dan Dakich said Almanson is a role model for his teammates when there are no fans in the seats.
"He is as focused on his game as I've ever seen a kid," said Dakich. "We had a shoot-around last night and I stopped a couple of guys and talked to them about how he prepares and made them watch."
Dakich said he prepared a game plan for Saturday by recalling how well the Penguins played inside against his team last season in the ESPN Bracket Buster game.
"They hit 3s and they were able to keep stuffing it into the post," he said. "We didn't want to let them catch the ball [in the post] and we got good [backside] help from the guards."
Starting posts Brian Radakovich and John Barber were a combined 2-for-7 and each scored just two points.