YSU grabs 3rd straight win, 77-73

By Pete Mollica

The Penguins played good defense in stopping Green Bay, the second best team in the Horizon League.

YOUNGSTOWN — Think Youngstown State men’s basketball coach Jerry Slocum isn’t superstitious?

The Penguins posted a pair of victories on the road last weekend in Chicago wearing their away red uniforms, so Thursday night when the Penguins took the court on their home floor at Beeghly Center they were wearing those same red uniforms.

And after the way the Penguins performed against the second-best team in the Horizon League, Green Bay, the Penguins may become a one-uniform team the rest of the regular season.

Junior DeAndre Mays scored 21 points and the Penguins connected on 10 of 16 free throws over the final two minutes to knock off the Phoenix 77-73 before 1,682 fans at Beeghly Center.

It was the third straight win for the Penguins (9-15, 6-8 Horizon League) and keeps them firmly entrenched in sixth place in the conference.

Green Bay (19-7, 11-3) had won five straight and nine of 10. The Phoenix were averaging just under 80 points a game over that span.

The Penguins, who never trailed after taking the lead with just under 18 minutes left in the first half, totally dominated the Phoenix over the first 25 minutes of the contest and held a 22-point lead with just over 15 minutes left.

“We played a good 40 minutes of basketball tonight,” said Slocum. “And we defended all night. That’s a great offensive team we played and it was a great win for us.”

“This is the third straight game where we’ve gone into the final media timeout either tied or ahead and that’s all I can ask of them,” he added. “Fortunately we made some big free throws down the stretch.”

Slocum praised senior Zack Rebillot.

“Zack came in an did just an outstanding job rebounding, playing defense and making some clutch free throws,” Slocum added.

Rebillot had only five points in 12 minutes, but his play under the basket was outstanding. With 2.6 seconds remaining, he sank two free throws and clinched the victory.

Besides Mays, who was 10 of 14 from the foul line, two other Penguins finished in double figures — sophomore Vytas Sulskis and junior Kelvin Bright each added 12 points.

The Penguins, who shot 52.2 percent from the field in the first half, finished at 47.9 percent.

Green Bay, which shot 32 percent in the first half, shot 54.8 in the second half and finished 44.6 for the game. The Phoenix held a slight edge in rebounding, 35-33.

The Penguins took the lead on a 3-point shot by Tom Parks to go ahead 5-4 and then scored six straight and 20 of the next 25 points to pull to a 25-9 advantage with 9:33 remaining.

YSU maintained that lead the rest of the half, leading 38-22 at intermission.

The Penguins scored the first six points of the second half to up their lead to 22 points, 44-22, and still led by 22 (48-26) with 15:16 remaining.

YSU led 58-38 with 9:34 remaining when the Phoenix started to battle back. Sparked by Rahmon Fletcher and Ryan Tillema, the Phoenix cut the Penguins’ lead to 10 points, 61-51, with just under five minutes left.

They got the lead down to seven points, 67-60, with 2:11 left before the Penguins went to the foul line eight straight times. Even though the Penguins made 10 of their final 16 free throws, Green Bay still managed to get to within two points, 72-70, with 40.2 seconds left on two long 3-pointers by Troy Cotton.

But Sulskis hit two free throws and Sirlester Martin added another before Rebillot sealed the win with his final two.

The Penguins will go for their fourth straight win on Saturday when they entertain Milwaukee in a 7:05 tip off at Beeghly Center.