COLLEGEHOOPS YSU suffers loss at Akron

The Penguins blew a 15-point second-half lead against the Zips.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
AKRON -- The Youngstown State men's basketball team still hasn't found out how to win on the road this year, but they are getting closer.
The Penguins blew a 15-point second-half lead Saturday and suffered a heartbreaking 67-62 loss to the University of Akron here at the James A. Rhodes Arena before a crowd of nearly 4,000.
The loss dropped the Penguins to 1-2 on the season, but it was the 25th straight non-conference loss on the road dating to the 2001 season.
Overall since 2001, YSU is 2-61 away from Beeghly Center.
Still has hope
YSU first-year head coach Jerry Slocum, who is trying desperately to bring an end to the streak, still saw some hope for his Penguins.
"We played with passion and enthusiasm tonight and did a good job of working the ball around, but unfortunately we just couldn't make a shot down the stretch when we needed it," Slocum said.
"The best thing about tonight's game was that the effort was there and we spread the ball around very well especially in the first half," he added.
"At the end we had the people we wanted to have the ball with it, but we just couldn't get it done," he added. "We also didn't shoot very well from the foul line."
The Penguins held a 15-point lead, 50-35, with just under 13 minutes to play, but the Zips, who shot horribly over the first half, finally came to life.
Zips' big rally
The outscored the Penguins 18-2 over the next six minutes to take their first lead of the game 53-52 at the 6:30 mark.
The Penguins regained the lead 58-55 when freshman Jack Liles made a conventional three-point play and still led 62-61 with 1:18 remaining when junior Quin Humphrey followed up a missed shot by Derrick Harris with a rebound dunk, but the Penguins would not score again.
Nick Dials, a transfer from Ohio State, hit a 3-point shot with 1:05 remaining and then the Penguins committed two straight turnovers in the final seconds that enabled the Zips to pull out the win, in their season opening game.
Leading the way
Humphrey led the Penguins with 15 points and added a double-double with 10 rebounds. Senior Domonique Crawford added 11, but nine of them came in the first half, while Liles finished with 10 points.
Romeo Travis led the Zips with 25 points, 16 of them in the second half and at one point in the final six minutes scored 10 straight points for Akron.
"Travis killed us inside in the second half, we just had nobody who could stop him," Slocum added.
The Penguins played a near-perfect first half, jumping out to an 8-3. After Akron closed it to 8-6 the Penguins when on an 11-0 run to pull to a 19-8 margin.
In command at half
Akron cut the lead to 8-points 33-25 with 2:46 remaining, but YSU pulled back to a 38-27 lead at intermission.
After Travis scored the first bucket of the second half, the Penguins lengthen it's lead to 14 points 45-31 on a Crawford jump shot.
Humphrey's 3-point goal with 12:59 remaining put the Penguins up by 15, 50-35, before the bottom fell out.
YSU, which shot 48.4 percent in the first half, finished the game at 39.7 after hitting just 31 percent in the second half. Akron, which shot 30.3 percent in the first half, shot 60.7 percent in the second half and finished at 44.3 on the night.
Akron also outrebounded the Penguins 40-39. YSU was also just 4-of-11 from the charity stripe.
YSU returns home on Wednesday to meet Kent State in a 7:35 p.m. tip-off at Beeghly Center. The YSU women will meet Saint Louis in the opening game at 5:15.