YSU men’s basketball team wallops Div. III Allegheny

By Chuck Housteau

Junior guard DeAndre Mays, a college transfer, scored 19 points in the Penguins’ romp.

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State junior guard DeAndre Mays has only worn a Penguins’ uniform for three games, but he is starting to look real comfortable adorning red and white.

The junior college transfer led six YSU scorers in double figures with 19 points Saturday as the Penguins grabbed its first win of the season in a dominating 96-59 win over Allegheny at Beeghly Center.

“We played hard tonight,” Mays said. “Everyone tried to pick each other up after the two hard losses we already had.

“Coach [Jerry Slocum] stresses the importance of playing as a team,” Mays said. “I think we are starting to get comfortable with playing together.”

Mays also grabbed seven rebounds and passed out three assists.

Sophomore Vytus Sulskis added 13 points while Jack Liles scored 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.

Junior college transfer Kelvin Bright scored 12 points while freshman Aven Ward tallied 11 points.

Sophomore Vance Cooksey also scored in double figures with 10 points.

The Penguins had their best shooting night of the season as they hit more than 48 percent of their shots, including a blistering 60 percent in the second half against the Division III Gators.

“We’re finally making some shots,” Slocum said. “We’re a long way from being where we need to be but it was a good game for us to slug our way out of our offensive woes.

“I thought we did a really good job of that in the second half.”

The Penguins struggled early and only led Allegheny (1-2) 20-13 before closing out the half strong to post a 39-24 lead at the break.

YSU (1-2) began to play solid basketball in the second half as Mays took control of the offense and scored 13 of his points in the final 20 minutes.

“DeAndre is an energy guy that can play the point and the off guard positions,” Slocum said. “He has that kind of bounce to him that makes him special.”

Slocum also pointed out that he is pleased with the way the depth of the team is shaping up.

“We’ve talked about how important our depth can be for us this year and tonight I think you saw how it can be a positive for us.”

The Penguins did a lot of things well as they outrebounded the Gators 45-37 and only turned the ball over 10 times.

“There is no shortcut for guys trying to learn how to play with each other,” Slocum said. “As much as I would like to make it happen much quicker it’s apparent that it is going to take us some time.

“The things we are not doing well are things we can work on to do well and that’s encouraging.”

The Gators were led in scoring by Charlie Jaicks with 12 points and Andrew Barker who tallied 10 points.