Penguins' dry spells too long

It really doesn't matter whether you are watching the YSU men's basketball team in person or listening to it on the radio, sooner or later you just know it is coming.
Of course, it, being a dry spell that usually spells defeat for the Penguins, especially on the road where YSU has been struggling for the last five years.
Sunday afternoon at Marshall it appeared that this might be the game when the Penguins could stay away from the long spell and maybe pull out a victory.
YSU first year head coach Jerry Slocum said that in almost every game there are periods when each team is going to go cold from the field.
"What you try to do is limit those dry spells to a couple of minutes rather than six, seven or eight minutes when you knock yourself right out of the game."
The Penguins did that in the first half and never fell more than four points behind The Herd and kept themselves right in the contest.
But in the end it was a nearly seven minute drought, that saw the Penguins score three points and fall behind by nine points with less than a minute to play. The Penguins have weaknesses.
Team lackinginside scoring
They have no real scoring power underneath the basket; they have to rely on their shooting guards and they do have some very good ones.
Junior Quin Humphrey is about as good as any shooting guard in the country and his athleticism is probably the best on the team as he's shown with three consecutive double-doubles this year.
Junior transfer Keston Roberts is another outstanding shooter along with senior point guard Derrick Harris.
Harris was thrown into the point guard slot because the Penguins had nobody else. He played the position in high school and has filled the hole quite well this season.
The problem is that when Harris needs a break the offensive production suffers. Freshman Mikko Niemi is his replacement and the 6-foot-2 Finland product, is still learning the college game.
Help could be on the way for Harris when redshirt freshman transfer Brian Williams becomes eligible later this month.
The 5-11 Williams, who transferred from Oral Roberts last year, will complete his year of sitting out this month. He was also a point guard in high school and is one of the quickest players on the YSU roster.
But the Penguins still have to shoot the basketball well to win. Unfortunately they did that the past three games, but lost all three.
The big reason was turnovers. YSU had 22 turnovers in the loss to Kent State and 19 turnovers Sunday and as Coach Slocum said, "you aren't going to get it done with 19 or 22 turnovers."
The Penguins have two more road games, Wednesday at Eastern Michigan and Saturday against St. Bonaventure, before returning to Beeghly Center Dec. 17 in an afternoon doubleheader with the YSU women.
The women will play Indiana State at 1:05 p.m. and the men will play Duquesne at 3:25.
YSU womenplay tonight
Speaking of the YSU women, they will play their second home game of the season tonight against Oakland (Mich.) University in a 7:05 tip-off at Beeghly.
Third-year coach Tisha Hill's crew built up some confidence last Wednesday when they rallied from behind to defeat Saint Louis University in their home opener, 80-71.
"It was a win that we really needed and the important thing is that we went out there and took it away from them," Hill said. "I feel that was a great confidence builder for these girls."
The Penguins are young with six freshmen and seven new faces on the roster.
One of those new faces is freshman Monique Godfrey, a 5-8 guard from East Cleveland, who played at one of Ohio's premier basketball schools, South Euclid Regina.
Godfrey got her first real action against the Billikens and came through with 11 points, seven rebounds, six assists, one block and only one turnover.
XPete Mollica covers YSU athletics for The Vindicator. Write to him at mollica@vindy.com.