YSU suffers OT loss in finale

The Penguins battled back from a 32-8 deficit, but fell to Loyola 87-84.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- The bad news is that the Youngstown State men's basketball team dropped its regular season final to Loyola 87-84 in overtime Saturday night before nearly 5,000 fans at Beeghly Center.
The good news is that the Penguins and the Ramblers get to do it all over again next Tuesday in the opening round of the Horizon League Tournament in Chicago.
The Penguins, who fell behind 32-8 in the first 10 minutes of play, came back and gave the Ramblers all they could handle, including holding a three-point lead with 16 seconds remaining.
Game turning point
Loyola came downcourt and Blake Schilb, who led the Ramblers with 29 points, missed a 3-point shot from the corner, but Majak Kou took the rebound and passed it back out to Schilb, who from the exact same spot drained the game-tying trey to produce overtime at 71-71.
Even in overtime, the Penguins seemed to dominate, jumping out to a 76-71 lead, but again it was Schilb, who first tied the game at 78-78 and then gave the Ramblers the lead with his seventh 3-point goal of the game and Loyola was able to keep the margin by making six of six from the foul line over the final 30 seconds.
The Penguins (7-20, 4-12) finish ninth in the nine-team Horizon League. Loyola (17-10, 8-8) finishes in a five-way deadlock for third place in the league.
Play again Tuesday
The Ramblers get the No. 4 seed and will host the Penguins Tuesday at 8 p.m. at the Gentile Center.
"We gave that one away," said YSU head coach Jerry Slocum. "We lost it in the last possession of regulation on a rebound that we had in our hands."
Slocum, who is completing his first season as the Penguins head coach, praised the performance of senior Domonique Crawford, who before the game was honored along with seniors Derrick Harris and Mike Adams, for playing their final game in Beeghly Center.
Career high for Crawford
The 6-4 Crawford led all scorers with a career-high 37 points.
"He just played tremendously tonight," Slocum said. "I'm proud of the way they all battled back tonight."
YSU thought it was going to be a long night as Loyola came out and made 10 of its first 11 shots from the field and built a 32-8 advantage with just over 10 minutes left in the half.
But the Penguins then scored 16 straight points and cut the margin to 32-24. Then, after two straight 3-point shots by Crawford, the Penguins closed within five. His final two baskets of the half closed YSU to 38-36 at intermission
Penguins first lead
YSU took its first lead of the contest with 8:44 remaining, 57-55, on a Crawford 3-pointer. Crawford, who was 6-of-8 from 3-point range made another to give YSU a 62-58 lead, but Schilb and company wouldn't go away.
YSU junior guard Quin Humphrey added 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Penguins to wrap up the Horizon League's scoring and rebounding titles for the year. Schilb was 10 points behind Humphrey going into the game.
mollica@vindy.com