YSU men blew a 67-61 Horizon League contest to old nemesis Valparaiso.

YSU men blew a 67-61 Horizon League contest to old nemesis Valparaiso.

By PETE MOLLICA

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State and Valparaiso played 23 times between 1989 and 2001 when they were members of the Mid-Continent Conference.

The Crusaders won 16 of those contests. When the two teams met Thursday night in their first Horizon League encounter, Valparaiso picked right up where it left off — winning games they weren’t suppose to capture.

The Crusaders took advantage of some horrible free throw shooting by the Penguins and a lot of missed easy shots to pull out a 67-61 victory before 3,349 fans at Beeghly Center.

The Penguins (7-10-, 3-4) made just five of 13 free throws, 2-of-8 in the second half and lost by six points. They also missed a number of easy layup shots throughout the contest against the Crusaders (13-5, 4-2).

“Not taking anything away from Valpo, but that was a game that we gave away tonight,” YSU coach Jerry Slocum said. “It was very disappointing. We met the enemy, but the enemy was ourselves.

“We played hard the entire way, but you just can’t miss seven or eight easy layups and too many wide open shots like we did tonight,” Slocum said.

Senior Byron Davis led the Penguins with 23 points including 10-for-16 from the field, while senior John Barber added 18 points and eight rebounds and junior Jack Liles scored 13 points.

Freshman Vytas Sulskis had only four points, but pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds and dished out five assists.

The Penguins shot just 32.1 percent in the first half, but did much better in the second half hitting 17-of-29 for 58.6 percent and ended 45.6 for the game.

The Crusaders, who were led by Brandon McPherson with 20 points, shot horribly in the first half (22.8 percent), but hit 57.7 percent in the second half and made 13 of 17 free throws including eight of nine in the final minute of play.

The Penguins jumped out to a quick lead behind Liles who scored the first five points. Barber’s basket with 14:15 remaining gave YSU an 11-6 lead.

Valparaiso came back to tie the game 12-12, but didn’t take its first lead until 44.9 seconds remained in the half when Bryan Bouchie, who finished with 15 points off the bench, sank two free throws for a 20-19 lead.

Davis hit a 3-point shot in the final seconds to give YSU the lead at intermission 22-20.

The game was tied three times early in the second half before the Crusaders took the lead for keeps on two more free throws by Bouchie, 35-33.

The Crusaders led by as many as eight points 59-51 with 1:29 remaining, but Barber hit a 3-pointer and Sulskis and Davis each added another long-range bomb and the Penguins were back to within two points 61-59 with 37.3 seconds left.

YSU was forced to foul and the Crusaders made them pay as first Urule Igbavboa hit a pair and after another Davis basket, Jake Diebler hit two more free throws and McPherson iced the win with another pair in the final seconds.

The Penguins don’t have a lot of time to regroup as No. 12 ranked Butler comes into Beeghly Center on Saturday night for a 7:05 contest.

The Bulldogs had an eight-game winning streak snapped Thursday night at Cleveland State 56-52.

Saturday’s contest will be part of a doubleheader with the YSU women meeting Detroit in a 4:35 start.

mollica@vindy.com