YSU loses sixth game in a row on road

The Penguins fell to 3-7 overall with a 75-67 loss at Siena University.
LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. -- The Youngstown State men's basketball team's road woes continued Wednesday as the Penguins dropped a 75-67 contest to Siena University at the Pepsi Arena.
YSU remains winless on the road after losing for the sixth straight time and falling to 3-7 overall. Siena improved to 5-4 and 4-0 at home.
The Penguins dug themselves a hole in the first half as they suffered horrible shooting, hitting just 9 of 31 shots from the field for 29 percent and falling behind 37-23.
The Penguins fell even further behind early in the second half and trailed by as many as 20 points before putting on a comeback rally that pulled them within four points with a little more than five minutes remaining.
But the Penguins could get no closer.
Split performances
"It was kind of a tale of two halves here tonight," YSU head coach Jerry Slocum said. "I was disappointed in our first-half shot selections. We did things that we haven't done in the last six or seven games.
"This group has got to learn how to handle success," Slocum said. "We played a couple of good games and they come out and think they can do things their way and it doesn't work. We played poorly."
Still, the Penguins had a chance to win, but couldn't keep its rally going in the final five minutes.
"We knew it wasn't going to be easy, playing on their floor and with them shooting nearly 40 free throws to our nine, but we still had a chance," Slocum said.
"We definitely are not short on heart, but sometimes we don't play very bright and tonight was one of them," Slocum said.
Humphrey scores 16
For the 10th straight game, junior Quin Humphrey finished in double figures, but he had to work for this one as he scored 16 points (14 coming in the second half).
Senior Domonique Crawford had his second straight outstanding game off the bench as he also totaled 16 points, while junior Keston Roberts added 12 and senior Derrick Harris chipped in with 10.
Harris played all 40 minutes as the Penguins' point guard and did not commit a turnover.
The Penguins shot 42 percent for the game, finishing with 19 of 35 in the second half for 54 percent. But they were just 5 of 23 from 3-point range, although they did outrebound the Saints 44-39.
Siena was led freshman Kenny Hasbrouck who had a career-night with 23 points. Sophomore Kojo Mensah added 19 points and was 13-of-19 from the foul line. Antoine Jordan had 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Early run powers Saints
The Penguins jumped out to a 6-3 early lead, but the Saints went on a 9-0 run and took a 12-6 lead and never trailed again.
YSU trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half, then fell behind by 20 points 45-25 early in the second half.
Trailing 47-27 the Penguins went on a streak, again led by Crawford, out-scoring the Saints 18-6 and closing the gap to eight points (53-45).
Crawford's final bucket of the game pulled the Penguins to within four points 59-55, but the Saints went to the line 11 more times after than to put the game away.
The Penguins remain on the road and will open Horizon League play at Illinois-Chicago on Saturday in a 3 p.m. tip-off.