YSU drops seventh at KSU

By Pete Mollica

The Penguins couldn’t hold a five-point lead in losing 82-74.

KENT — For all but about six minutes in Monday’s game, Youngstown State men’s basketball team outplayed Kent State at the M.A.C. Center.

Unfortunately for the Penguins, they were outscored 24-2 in those unforgettable six minutes.

YSU’s late rally couldn’t pull out a win as the Penguins suffered their fifth straight defeat, dropping an 82-74 decision before 2,518 fans.

“Turnovers killed us again” YSU coach Jerry Slocum said. “During that dry spell, we made seven consecutive turnovers and you can’t do that on your opponent’s court and get a win.”

YSU (1-7) led for most of the game’s first 25 minutes and held a 40-35 advantage with 17:23 to play in the second half.

Then the Penguins went nearly five minutes without scoring, missing five straight shots and committing seven turnovers in the stretch.

They fell behind 51-40 before junior Kelvin Bright ended the drought with a bucket with 12:28 remaining, but Kent scored eight more points to build a 59-44 lead.

“I thought we had the opportunity to pull it out there at the end when we had a bunch of free throws, but we couldn’t convert,” Slocum said.

After falling behind by as many at 21 points, the Penguins battled back behind sophomore guard Vance Cooksey.

The 6-footer from Chicago finished with a career-high 24 points, scoring 19 of them in the final eight minutes of the contest.

“It felt good, but this game is all about team play and we just didn’t get the job done tonight,” Cooksey said.

“We just had a lack of focus there in the second half when we let them make that big run.

“We didn’t defend very well, we certainly didn’t take care of the ball and we gave them too many second chance shots,” Cooksey said.

Behind Cooksey, the Penguins battled back to within 11 points 74-63 with 3:22 remaining.

Cooksey was fouled by Jordan Mincy, who was also hit with a technical foul on the play.

But Cooksey made just one of the four free throw attempts and the Golden Flashes wouldn’t let them get any closer.

While Cooksey led the scoring, Bright had his second straight 20-point effort as he scored 21 points. The Penguins also outrebounded the Flashes 38-34 with Sirlester Martin leading the way with nine.

The Penguins committed 19 turnovers and allowed 20 points off those mistakes.

They also were outscored 42-32 in the paint.

Kent (4-5), which snapped a five-game losing streak, was led by Al Fisher with 20 points, while Chris Singletary added 14 points.

YSU outplayed the Flashes in the first half, leading most of the first 20 minutes,

It was Cooksey’s first 3-point goal of the half that gave the Penguins a 13-10 lead with 10:46 left in the half.

They didn’t relinquish that lead until the four minute mark when Singletary hit a free throw for a 27-26 Kent lead.

Bright hit two buckets in the final minute, a 3-pointer to tie the game at 29-29 and then a steal and a layup just before the buzzer that gave the Penguins a 31-29 halftime lead.

The Penguins have two more road games this week as they will play at High Point, N.C. on Friday in a 7 p.m. tip-off and then travel to Charlotte, N.C., on Sunday for a 2 p.m. contest against North Carolina-Charlotte.

They don’t return home until Dec. 29 when they entertain Lock Haven in a 7:05 p.m. contest at Beeghly Center.

mollica@vindy.com