YSU’s men fall 76-69

The Penguins lost at
Wisconsin-Milwaukee
for their fifth loss in six games.

VINDICATOR STAFF/WIRE REPORTS

MILWAUKEE — Paige Paulsen scored 24 points and Marcus Skinner added 16 to lead Wisconsin-Milwaukee to a 76-69 Horizon League victory over Youngstown State Thursday night.

The Panthers (11-8, 6-3) have won eight of their last nine games.

Skinner’s previous career high was 14 points against Wisconsin-Green Bay Jan. 19. Skinner also pulled down 12 rebounds.

Deonte Roberts added 12 points and Ricky Franklin and Deion James 10 each for Milwaukee.

The Penguins (7-12, 3-6) lost for the fifth time in their last six games.

Byron Davis scored 22 points to lead Youngstown State, while John Barber added 16 and Vytas Sulskis had 15.

Barber also had 11 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.

“We gave up too many offensive rebounds [17],” said Youngstown State coach Jerry Slocum.

After trailing at halftime and being down 57-43 after a lay-up by Skinner with 12:59 remaining, the Penguins mounted a comeback.

They pulled within 64-61 on a 3-pointer by Sulskis with 6:14 to go, but that was a close as they could get.

“We didn’t do a great job of finishing some plays,” said Slocum. “We cut it to three, then missed three consecutive lay-ups.

“We competed hard but we’ll keep working at it,” he added.

After YSU got to 64-61, the Panthers scored the next seven points, five of them at the foul line, to make it a 10-point margin (71-61) with 4:21 remaining.

YSU got to 71-65 on two free throws and a lay-up by Dwight Holmes — the basket coming at the 3:18 mark — but no closer.

Milwaukee was 10-of-14 at the foul line over the final six minutes.

The Panthers opened the game with a 9-2 run and never trailed. Paulsen had the opening basket for a 2-0 lead and he finished off the run with a 3-pointer with 16:06 left.

Milwaukee also beat the Penguins 61-39 Jan. 7.

YSU continues its Wisconsin swing Saturday in Green Bay at 2 p.m.