Cheers! Fans see YSU nab rare win

The Penguins earned their first win over Butler in the Horizon League, 64-62.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- Domonique Crawford's two free throws with 28 seconds remaining put Youngstown State men's basketball team in front and the Penguins held on to post a 64-62 victory over Butler before 4,211 fans at Beeghly Center.
It was the Penguins' first victory over the Bulldogs since joining the Horizon League.
YSU (6-11, 3-4) trailed by as many as eight points with just over seven minutes remaining. But junior Keston Roberts provided a spark, helping the Penguins pull even with the Bulldogs at 55-55 before battling right to the wire to pull out the victory.
"It wasn't perfect and if we had made some free throw it would have been a lot easier, but I'm still so very proud of these kids tonight," said YSU head coach Jerry Slocum.
"Our kids have worked so hard and they deserved this win; we had never beaten Butler and with that amazing crowd behind us we pulled it out," he added.
"I told our kids at halftime that we needed to reward these fans for their support," Slocum said. "It was definitely a college basketball atmosphere here tonight."
Leadership
Roberts led the Penguins with 23 points, while junior Quin Humphrey got back on track and posted his seventh double-double of the season scoring 17 points and pulling down 14 rebounds.
Slocum also praised the work of sophomore John Barber, who did a solid job on Butler's top scorer Brandon Polk in the second half.
Polk, who led all scorers with 26 points, had 18 of them in the first half before Barber took over. He also forced Polk in a key turnover during the final seconds of the contest that wrapped up the win for the Penguins.
With the game deadlocked at 55-55, the two teams went back and forth the rest of the way.
Roberts deadlocked the contest at 59-59 with a jump shot and Humphrey added two free throws for a 61-59 YSU lead with 1:15 remaining.
Butler's Avery Sheets hit a 3-point goal, the 10th of the game for the Bulldogs (9-8, 2-3 Horizon), with 47 seconds remaining to give Butler back the lead at 62-61.
Up for good
Crawford was fouled with 28.1 seconds remaining and calmly tossed in both free throws to put the Penguins back on top for keeps.
"All I could hear was that crowd behind us and I just went up there and knocked them both down," said Crawford.
After Crawford's shots, the Bulldogs came down the floor and called a timeout with 14.1 seconds remaining. When they resumed they worked the ball into Polk. But Barber's tight defense forced him to travel with the ball with 7.8 seconds remaining.
The Bulldogs sent the Penguins to the foul line twice in the those final seconds and YSU made just one of the four. But A.J. Graves' half-court shot at the buzzer fell well short and the Penguins had the win.
The Penguins led only once in the first half and that was in the early going when they jumped out to a 6-2 lead on two quick baskets by Roberts.
Butler took command after that and built an eight point lead 22-14, but the Penguins came back to deadlock the contest at halftime 34-34.
The Penguins have one more game remaining in this four-game home stand as they play host to league-leading UW-Milwaukee on Thursday night in a 7:35 tip-off at Beeghly.
mollica@vindy.com