Wright State ekes out 50-47 win for eighth in a row

John Barber scored a game-high 25 points for YSU and is 58 short of 1,000.

VINDICATOR STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN —One team entered Beeghly Center Saturday night with a seven-game winning streak, while the other was hoping for two in a row.

Todd Brown’s fadeaway 3-pointer with 31.5 seconds remaining snapped a 47-47 tie to lift Wright State over Youngstown State University, 50-47, in a Horizon League game that solidified the Raiders’ hold on second place at 9-4.

Meanwhile, John Barber barely missed a 3-point try at 0:02 as Jerry Slocum’s Penguins fell to 8-18, 4-10.

In his defense, Barber’s 25 points represented half of Youngstown’s total.

The senior forward wouldn’t put the blame on his teammates nor would Slocum blame Vance Cooksey who missed two free throws with the game on the line with 1:03 remaining.

“He’s made pressure foul shots for us several times this season, so the onus isn’t on him,” Slocum said of his freshman guard.

Barber tied the game at 47-all with 2:12 left before Cooksey, who, prior to Saturday, was 24 of 27 at the line in the final five minutes of games.

Although the consensus was that YSU played hard, Slocum gave an icy stare to the guy asking whether his Penguins were out-muscled on the defensive boards.

“No, I thought we played hard and it was very physical,” the coach responded. “I thought we played outstanding defense the last two games at home. I thought we defended hard enough to give us a chance to win the game.”

Of WSU’s 32 rebounds, 27 were defensive. Of YSU’s 26 caroms, 17 were on the Raiders’ boards.

Slocum acknowledged Barber’s contribution, but emphasized that he needed help.

“He played a very good game, but got no help.”

Slocum admitted that Youngstown’s first half shooting was an albatross as the Penguins made only 8 of 25 from the field, which included 2 of 12 from 3-point range.

“We took almost half of our shots from 3-point range — that was part of the problem. Even though they were sagging in, trying to make you make them, we’ve got to make them. It’s not a hard shot. At this level, you’ve got to make them. We made a couple, but, obviously, we didn’t make enough.”

YSU improved its shooting slightly in the second half to finish 16 of 48, which included only 4 of 25 from beyond the arc.

Brown had 14 points for Wright State, while Will Graham added 10 for the Raiders (17-6) .

WSU coach Brad Brownell said that YSU defended his team exceptionally well.

“Vaughn Duggins, one of our better players, did not have a typical night, so that hurt us a bit. I’m proud of the way we were able to defend them as well because I thought YSU was ready to go. But our defense was equally as good. It became a struggle and, fortunately for us, we had a kid step up [Brown] and make one at the end and their kid missed. There’s nothing much different than that.”

After holding a 31-23 halftime lead, YSU outscored the visitors, 24-19.

“In the second half, for whatever reason, we turned the ball over a couple times for points,” Brownell said. “So, some credit goes to Youngstown for its defense — then we missed a couple shots we needed to make and we didn’t do a good job getting to the free-throw line and that hurt as well. When a game is so low-scoring and it’s so hard to make a basket, you need to get a few free ones by getting to the line. We just weren’t able to do that.”

Wright State attempted only four free throws and made three, while Youngstown sank 11 of 19.

bassetti@vindy.com