Fond farewell: Penguins plan senior tribute

Quin Humphrey and Keston Roberts are favorites of coach Jerry Slocum.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State men's basketball coach Jerry Slocum expects Thursday night to be a very emotional one for him and his players.
The fact that the Penguins will take on Horizon League leader Wright State in a 7:05 p.m. tip-off at Beeghly Center will be only part of the emotion.
Also on Thursday the Penguins will say goodbye to its three senior players who are playing their final regular-season home game at Beeghly.
Two of those seniors have been the backbone of the YSU program these last two seasons with Slocum and he's going to miss them.
"Thursday night, we're going to recognize two guys who are very dear to me," Slocum said. "Keston [Roberts] and Quin [Humphrey] have been very supportive to me in my two years here.
"Quin might have had as good a career here as anybody ever has in this program."
Immeasurable impact
Their impact on the program isn't measurable, Slocum said.
"Anytime you rebuild a program you have founding fathers and these two are definitely the founding fathers of this program," he said.
In addition to Humphrey and Roberts, senior Dwight Holmes also will conclude his career with the Penguins.
"It's going to be very emotional being our last scheduled home game," Roberts said.
"We've seen this team mature and we've been able to help with our leadership over the years."
Adding to the emotion of the night will be the fact that Penguins are fighting for a seed in the postseason tournament that will give them at least a first-round home contest.
The Penguins (12-15, 6-8 Horizon) are sitting in fifth place in the standings by themselves.
One win in the remaining two games will assure the Penguins of a home tournament game. With two wins, a lot more things could happen.
Scoring threat
Slocum knows that in order for his team to knock off the Raiders on Thursday it will take a tremendous effort by his Penguins.
The Raiders (21-8, 13-2) come in with the league's top scorer in DaShaun Woods (19.6 points per game) and a nine-game winning streak.
"To beat Wright State, we have to keep Woods in check, but we also have to play the other players on the team," Slocum said. "But the true key to us winning is that we must shoot the basketball well to have any chance."
The Raiders defeated the Penguins 62-49 in Dayton on Jan. 24 in a game that Slocum said they had a chance to win until the ball quit going in.
"We were in that game, had it down to six points, but then we went cold from the field and it was over," he said.
But Humphrey, who is second behind Woods in the league scoring race with an 18.9 average, is capable of offsetting Woods in any game and the Raiders don't have a second scorer averaging with Roberts, who is scoring at a 16.1 clip.
If the Penguins win their final two games -- they play at Cleveland State (9-19, 2-12) on Saturday -- they would still need some help from UW-Milwaukee, who would have to defeat UW-Green Bay at home on Saturday, in order to get to the No. 4 seed.
Two wins would definitely lock up the fifth spot and assure the Penguins of a home tournament game. One win and the worst they could finish would be sixth and still hosting in the first round.
"This will not only be an emotional night, but an emotional week as well," Slocum said. "I know for me Thursday will be extremely emotional."
mollica@vindy.com