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YSU men collapse again in 68-57 loss
By Pete Mollica
The Penguins shot just 26 percent in the second half in losing to Valparaiso.
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YOUNGSTOWN — Thursday night was the Horizon League opener for the Youngstown men’s basketball team, although the Penguins didn’t treat Valparaiso any different than they have anybody else this season.
The Penguins (1-5, 0-1 Horizon) played a great first half, then totally fell apart in the second half and suffered a 68-57 setback to the Crusaders (3-4, 1-1) at Beeghly Center.
It was the third straight loss and second straight at home for the Penguins, who enjoyed as much as a 14-point lead in the first half before their second half collapse.
YSU shot 42.3 percent from the field over those first 20 minutes, including a torrid 61.5 (8-of-13) from 3-point range. They blew the big lead in the final four minutes of the half when Valpo outscored them 14-2 to close the gap to 35-32 at halftime.
“You just aren’t going to win many games shooting 26 percent for an entire half,” said YSU head coach Jerry Slocum, who was coaching his 1000th game. “We opened the second half making one of our first 15 shots. That was very disappointing.”
The Penguins also didn’t do well at the foul line where they hit on just 11 of 20 attempts and were outrebounded 38-30.
Valparaiso’s 6-8 senior Urule Igbavboa was a thorn in the Penguins’ side all night as he led all scorers with 27 points, hitting 9-of-15 from the field and 9-of-11 from the foul line while pulling down nine rebounds.
“He’s a good player and he had a great night against us,” added Slocum. “But we’ve got to learn how to be mentally tough.”
The Penguins put three players in double figures led by junior Kelvin Bright with 13 points, all of them coming in the first half, while junior Sirlester Martin added 11 points and 11 rebounds and junior DeAndre Mays had 10 points.
“We had a pretty good first half, but then we kind of collapsed as a team in the second half,” said Bright. “We can’t hang our heads about this one because we’ve got another big game coming up on Saturday.”
The Penguins will play host to Butler in another Horizon League contest on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 7:05 p.m. at Beeghly. The Bulldogs rallied from behind to defeat Cleveland State 50-48 Thursday to remain unbeaten through six games. It was their Horizon League opener.
YSU started slowly against the Crusaders, falling behind 7-2 over the first five minutes, but then the Penguins caught fire, especially from behind the 3-point arc.
Five of the Penguins’ next six baskets were 3-point goals — two by Mays — as the Penguins went on a 15-2 run and pulled ahead 17-9 with just over 11 minutes remaining.
After Valparaiso cut the lead to two points, 17-15, the Penguins hit another streak. This time four of their five baskets in a 14-2 run were 3-pointers, three of them by Bright, as the Penguins took a 31-17 lead with five minutes remaining.
They still led by 14, 33-19 with 4:03 left, but the Penguins didn’t make another basket the rest of the half, just a pair of free throws by Vance Cooksey as the Crusaders pulled to within three at intermission.
Despite making just one of their first 15 shots from the field to open the second half the Penguins still battled with the Crusaders and led 39-38 with 15:30 left.
Valparaiso then scored six unanswered points and followed that with a 7-2 run and took control 51-43 with 8:30 remaining. The Penguins never got closer.
They finished the half 7-of-26 from the field and just 2-of-12 from 3-point range and both of the ones they made came in the final 20 seconds when the game had already been decided.