YSU MEN Penguins go down fighting

Second-half rally falls short in loss to Loyola of Chicago in Horizon League tournament opener.
CHICAGO -- The Youngstown State men's basketball team's season came to an end here Tuesday night, but the Penguins didn't go down without a fight.
Trailing by as many as 17 points in the second half, the Penguins rallied to cut the lead to just three in the final seconds before falling to Loyola of Chicago, 78-75, in the opening round of the Horizon League postseason tournament at the Gentile Center.
It marked the second year in a row that the Penguins have bowed out of the tournament in the opening round. YSU is now 1-4 in the postseason since joining the league.
The loss ended the YSU season with a 5-23 record, the fourth straight 20-loss season for head coach John Robic who is in the final year of his contract and not expected to be brought back next season.
Robic praised his players following the contest.
"I'm so proud of those guys tonight," Robic said. "That just might have been the best half of basketball we played all year."
The Penguins placed three players in double figures led by sophomore Quin Humphrey with 22 points, 13 of them coming in the second half.
Freshman redshirt John Barber added a career-high 17 points (14 in the first half) and senior Brian Radakovich finished with 14 points (13 in the second half.)
Second-half success
The Penguins, who trailed 41-28 at halftime, outscored the Ramblers, 47-37, in the second half.
Loyola advances to the tournament's second round on Friday when they will take on No. 5 seed Illinois-Chicago at the Cellular Arena in Milwaukee, Wis. UIC defeated Cleveland State 84-65 on Tuesday.
The Ramblers were paced by senior DaJaun Gouard and sophomore Blake Schilb. Gouard finished with a game-high 23 points, while Schilb added 22.
"This was a gut-check game for us," Robic said. "But Gouard and Schilb were just too much for us."
The Penguins got themselves into a hole early. After the score was deadlocked 3-3, the Penguins went more than seven minutes without scoring a field goal and the Ramblers ran of 16 straight points to pull to a 19-4 lead. The closest the Penguins got was 10 points, 38-28.
YSU got to within nine points, 53-44, before Loyola ran off nine straight points and pulled back to an 65-48 lead with 7:31 remaining.
Humphrey, Radakovich and a couple of 3-point shots by Derrick Harris brought the Penguins back to within seven points, 72-65, with 1:26 remaining.
Harris' third 3-pointer put the Penguins within four points and they got to within three, 75-72, on two Jon Mends free throws, but that was as close as they could get before time ran out.