Another defeat for YSU at Wright State

VINDICATOR STAFF/WIRE REPORT

DAYTON — The Youngstown State men’s basketball team has won only once at the Nutter Center against Wright State, and that was 14 years ago.

The Penguins are going to have to wait at least another year for a win there, as they blew a 13-point halftime lead and then a three-point edge in the final minute and a half, to suffer a heart-breaking 60-59 defeat to the Raiders in a Horizon League contest.

The Penguins (4-9, 1-3) had its two-game winning streak snapped, while the Raiders (8-7, 2-2) extended their winning streak to six in a row.

The Penguins played a near-perfect first half, building a 33-20 lead, shooting 51 percent from the field and making just five turnovers.

But Wright State came out and scored the first nine points of the second half, and with a 13-2 run cut the Penguins lead to two points 35-33 in the first five minutes of the half.

The Penguins, who had led since the eight minute mark of the first half, saw their lead tumble with 10:23 remaining in the game on a basket by John David Gardner. The contest was tied 10 times with nine lead changes and nine of those ties came in the final 10 minutes of action.

The game was deadlocked 56-56 with just over two minutes remaining when sophomore Vytas Sulskis hit a 3-point goal to give the Penguins a three-point lead 59-56 with 1:35 remaining, but Gardner scored with 53 seconds left and then Todd Brown made two free throws with 33.7 seconds remaining for the win.

The Penguins had two big turnovers in the final minute and missed two shots, both by DeAndre Mays, the last one just before the final buzzer.

“I thought we played very hard tonight and we deserved to win,” said YSU head coach Jerry Slocum. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen two halves so differently officiated and our kids didn’t handle it very well.”

“I though DeAndre played extremely well, he was the best player on the floor tonight, but we didn’t make the free throws like we did on Thursday and that proved to be the difference,” Slocum added.

The Penguins were led by Mays with 15 points, while senior Jack Liles added 12 with eight rebounds and junior Sirlester Martin had 10 points.

The Penguins shot 51.9 percent in the first half and 46.9 for the game, but were outrebounded 32-27 and committed 15 turnovers, 10 of them in the second half. They were also 7-of-12 from the free throw line.

The Penguins now return home on Thursday to play UIC in a 7:35 contest at Beeghly Center.