Penguins at home but on skid

Just when you thought the Youngstown State men’s basketball team finally had its problems figured out, the Penguins took a nose dive in the final weekend of the regular season.

But thanks to Illinois-Chicago, the Penguins will still get a first-round home game in the Horizon League tournament game, which will be played Tuesday night at Beeghly Center.

The Penguins will play host to the Flames, who knocked off Loyola last Friday to clinch YSU’s No. 6 seed. UIC is as hot recently as any team in the Horizon.

The Penguins certainly didn’t want to end the season with two straight losses, but they did. And they really didn’t play all that well either, losing at Butler on Thursday (78-57) and 67-59 to ninth place Valparaiso on Saturday.

The Penguins had been playing well going into the weekend, winning five of seven games, and appeared headed in the right direction for the Horizon Tournament.

Now it’s anybody’s guess how the Penguins will fare in the postseason.

Prior to this weekend, I really felt YSU was ready to make some noise in the tournament.

I thought they had a chance to get at least to the semifinals, but now I’m not sure they’ll get out of Beeghly alive.

Everything that the Penguins had been doing well over the past three weeks seemed to be forgotten this weekend.

They didn’t shoot the ball very well, they didn’t play very well defensively and they certainly didn’t play hard for a full 40 minutes.

Can they put it back together in time to make a run in the tournament?

Well, you can find out on Tuesday night, when the Penguins could use some fan support. It would be great to see something like the crowd they had for the Cleveland State game, which really started the Penguins back on the winning track.

If YSU wins they’ll take on the winner of the Cleveland State-Detroit game, which is also Tuesday, in Cleveland. That game will be on Friday at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Cleveland State will almost certainly beat Detroit. But with the exception of Saturday’s two-point loss at Butler, the Vikings have not played very well on the road this year.

The YSU women’s team has two regular season home games remaining before its tournament action gets underway.

The Penguins are playing some of their best basketball right now, but they are still losing.

Saturday they came as close to a victory as they’ve had since December.

The 68-64 loss to UIC was the second-best scoring game of the season for the Penguins, but at the same time, it was also their 16th straight loss and the 25th of the season, which sets a school record for most losses in a single season.

Still, the Penguins are getting closer to that victory, and maybe coach Cindy Martin was right when she claimed that the Penguins only have to be ready by tournament time and then only win four times to get to the NCAA tournament.

Well, don’t start looking for tournament tickets just yet because the odds are very high the Penguins may not win again this year. They’ll finish at home, but against two tough teams in Butler (on Thursday) and Valparaiso (on Saturday).

On the other hand, spring is right around the corner.

The baseball team won two straight on their Southern tour, something that hasn’t happened in a while. Usually the Penguins’ baseball and softball clubs are saddled with double-digit losses by the time they get to play a home game.

The YSU swimming team made a big push on Saturday and finished in fifth place at the Horizon League championships.

The men’s and women’s track and field teams will be competing in the Horizon League championships this weekend, and don’t look now, but YSU spring football practice is less than an month away.

XPete Mollica covers YSU for The Vindicator. E-mail him at mollica@vindy.com.