Bad start dooms YSU in Cleveland

By Pete Mollica

The Penguins fell behind CSU 22-8 and eventually lost by only four, 58-54.

CLEVELAND — Youngstown State’s game plan included a good start against Cleveland State in Wednesday night’s Horizon League game.

But the Penguins fell behind 22-8 before battling back to within two points in the final seconds before suffering a 58-54 loss before a crowd of 2,648 at the Wolstein Center.

The Penguins (10-16, 7-9 Horizon) had their four-game winning streak snapped by the Vikings (20-8, 11-5) who won their seventh straight and finished with a school-record tying 12 wins (in 14 games) at home.

Despite the Penguins’ horrible start they were back in the game midway through the second half. They pulled to within four points, 51-47, with 4:36 remaining, were within 56-53 with 50.4 seconds to go and 56-54 with 23.3 seconds left.

But a last shot by Kelvin Bright with five seconds remaining couldn’t find the mark.

“Other than the first 10 minutes I thought we played very well,” said Penguins coach Jerry Slocum. “We knew Cleveland State had been jumping out to big first-half leads at home and still we allowed them to do it again.

“I thought the first half we played back on our heels, while in the second half we played more aggressively,” Slocum said. “The second half we adjusted well.”

Slocum felt Bright’s final shot was pretty open. “It just didn’t go in.

“Cleveland State is a very good defensive team and they showed it over the first 10 minutes tonight,” he added.

The Penguins were paced by junior forward Sirlester Martin, who had a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Sophomore Vytas Sulskis led the scoring with 14 points and seven rebounds. Eleven of his points came over the final five minutes.

“Somebody had to make some shots and he did a good job of stepping up when we needed them,” Slocum said of Sulskis.

Senior Jack Liles added 12 points, but was in foul trouble most of the game and played only 22 minutes.

The Vikings, who are in a battle for third place in the Horizon League with Wright State, totally overwhelmed YSU in the first 10 minutes.

Their aggressive defense forced the Penguins into four consecutive turnovers, while offensively the Vikings opened with back-to-back 3-point goals by Norris Cole and J’Nathan Bullock and followed with back-to-back steals that ended up in slam dunks by Bullock and Cedric Jackson.

Jackson led the Vikings with 18 points, while Bullock finished with 17.

Former Ursuline High standout D’Aundray Brown didn’t score in the game, but did pull down seven rebounds.

The Penguins play host to St. Peter’s (N.J.) in the ESPN BracketBuster game at Beeghly Center. YSU’s final home game of the season is scheduled for 4:35 p.m.

mollica@vindy.com