Humphrey's 36 lead YSU to big win, 82-70

By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- On Valentine's Day night the sweetest thing in Beeghly Center might have been the shooting of Quin Humphrey.
The 6-foot-4 senior from Ellenwood, Ga., had his second straight 30-plus point effort at Beeghly and led the Penguins to a much-needed 82-70 victory over Detroit.
Even with Humphrey's 36-point effort -- he scored 37 points in a 92-87 win over UIC Feb. 3 -- the Penguins did not have an easy time against the Titans.
YSU (11-15, 6-8) and Detroit (9-17, 5-9) both came into the game part of a four-way deadlock for fifth place in the Horizon League standings.
With the win the Penguins took sole possession of fifth place since both UIC and UW-Milwaukee lost Wednesday night. The Flames fell to UW-Green Bay 65-55 and the Panthers lost to Loyola, 66-56.
The Penguins trailed the Titans by as many as 10 points early in the second half, but behind Humphrey, senior Keston Roberts and junior John Barber, the Penguins caught the Titans in the final five minutes and stormed right by them for the win.
"This was a great win for us in a very big game," said YSU coach Jerry Slocum. "It was very cold outside, but it was pretty warm in Beeghly tonight."
"The effort tonight was tremendous and the kids battled hard for a full 40 minutes," he added.
Burned up the nets
Humphrey had another torrid shooting night from the field, hitting 12-of-18 shots, including 8-of-12 from the 3-point line, and added five rebounds and five assists in 39 minutes.
Roberts added 19 points and Barber came up with nine points and seven rebounds. Sophomore Jack Liles led the Penguins with 12 rebounds as YSU outrebounded the Titans 40-30.
When the Penguins fell behind by 10 points (49-39) with just over 16 minutes remaining Slocum called timeout.
"Normally I try to settled them down, but this time I told them that we just had to go out there and step up and start knocking down some shots," Slocum said.
"John Barber made some big baskets for us tonight, he had two open looks down the stretch and knocked them both down."
Key four-point play
Humphrey, whose eight 3-pointers equaled his season best, also had a big four-point play during the rally that gave the Penguins their first lead since midway in the first half.
Humphrey, who was 2-of-13 in his last game at Green Bay last week, said it was just a matter of the ball falling in.
"I had good shots at Green Bay, but they didn't fall, tonight they were falling," he said.
The Penguins fell behind early 7-2, but battled back to tie the game at 9-9 on Humphrey's first 3-point goal. The Penguins last led in the game 25-23 on a Dwight Holmes goal with 8:40 remaining in the first half.
Detroit then went on an 8-0 run and followed that with a 7-0 run to take a 40-30 lead with 1:50 remaining. The Penguins, behind two straight 3-pointers by Humphrey closed the gap to 42-36 at the intermission.
After the Penguins cut the lead to 42-39 early in the second half the Titans, behind two big dunks from Ryvon Covile and a 3-pointer by Brandon Cotton pulled back to the 49-39 lead with 16:31 remaining.
The Penguins whittled the lead down to three points 55-52 on a 3-pointer by Byron Davis and two free throws by Roberts, but Detroit spurted again and led by eight 60-52 with just under 10 minutes to play.
Took lead for keeps
A basket by Liles and a 3-pointer by Roberts pulled the Penguins to within two points (66-64) and then Humphrey's four-point play gave the Penguins the lead for good (68-67) with 4:46 remaining.
A jumper by Barber and three missed free throws by the Titans kept the Penguins in front, 70-68, then Humphrey and Roberts hit back-to-back 3-pointers for a 76-68 lead and took the Titans out of the game.
The Penguins will play host to Eastern Kentucky in the ESPN Bracket Buster game Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
mollica@vindy.com