YSU men run thin on luck

Sometime no luck is better than the luck of the Youngstown State men’s basketball team.

The Penguins are struggling along with a 1-4 record, but if they had any kind of luck instead of bad luck, they probably would be 4-1.

Tuesday they lost to Robert Morris in the final seconds on a turn around jump shot from the far left side of the court.

Saturday night almost everybody in Beeghly Center saw the ball roll out of bounds with 1.3 seconds remaining against St. Francis, Pa., with YSU trailing 66-65. Everybody except the three officials, that is. When television replays didn’t produce any conclusive evidence the game was over.

Now nobody is saying that with 1.3 seconds left and the ball under the YSU basket that the Penguins would have won the game, but they should have least had the opportunity.

Still, if the Penguins are ever going to be as good as coach Jerry Slocum expects them to be they’ve got to learn how to play hard for a full 40 minutes.

There was no excuse for the Penguins to blow a 23-point second half lead to Robert Morris. The game should have never come down to a last-second shot, but when the Penguins quit playing aggressively like they did in the first half they allowed the Colonials to get back in the game and go on to take the victory.

The Penguins are a very talented basketball team. The biggest problem is that Slocum has a lot of new faces on the roster and mixed in with last year’s returnees the group has just not jelled like he had hoped they would.

Outside of sophomore guard Vytas Sulskis the Penguins don’t have the threat of a big-game player on the roster.

What Slocum does have is five or six players who are capable of averaging in double figures and he does have some help off the bench for the first time since he’s been at YSU.

Losing 6-foot-9 junior Dallas Blocker in the second half of the Robert Morris game with a knee injury was a big loss to the Penguins. Blocker was having an outstanding game against the Colonials and didn’t play the final 10 minutes.

He also sat out Saturday’s contest against St. Francis.

The good news on Blocker is that the injury wasn’t serious and he’s expected to be ready for Thursday’s Horizon League opener against Valparaiso at Beeghly Center.

Blocker apparently popped his knee cap out of place against Robert Morris. It popped back in, but was very sore. He said there hasn’t been any more swelling.

The Penguins still haven’t seen any of 6-8 freshman Eddie D’Haiti from Orlando, Fla., who has missed all five games recovering from injuries.

The other new players that Slocum brought in — Sirlester Martin, DeAndre Mays, Kelvin Bright and Tom Parks — have all contributed along with returnees Jack Liles and Vance Cooksey and 6-7 sophomore Dan Boudler of Louisville.

The YSU women finally got that first victory for first-year coach Cindy Martin when the Penguins defeated Weber State on Friday in the Pitt Thanksgiving Tournament, but the Penguins were brought back to earth Saturday when they were buried by the Panthers in the title game, 99-42.

Even though the Penguins were overmatched it was still a good game for Martin’s program. It also showed the difference in the talent level of a Division I major program against a mid-major.

Martin has given the team a lot of new things to learn and as Martin will quickly tell you they are getting better.

The coach hopes to have them at full go by the time Horizon League play begins in January.

YSU senior Nikita LaFleur was named to the all-tournament team in Pittsburgh. She had career highs of 24 points and 17 rebounds in the 67-60 win over Weber State.

Don’t forget the YSU football awards banquet will be held Saturday at noon in the Chestnut Room in Kilcawley Center.

XPete Mollica covers YSU athletics for The Vindicator. Write to him at mollica@vindy.com.