Penguins pull away

NAIA Division II-member Malone gave YSU a tough test for the first 25 minutes.

By John Bassetti

bassetti@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown State men’s basketball team snapped a three-game losing streak with a 78-62 victory over NAIA Div. II Malone Monday night at Beeghly Center.

“I thought that Damian [Eargle) and Vytas [Sulskis] and Tre [Brewer] did a good job,” Youngstown State coach Jerry Slocum said of players who combined for 62 points.

“I thought we gutted it out the last 17 minutes of the second half and did a good job, defensively, and got past the shackles of a hard loss [to Robert Morris] and came out and finally started sharing the ball again and doing things we needed to do.”

The game marked the first between the teams since 1963. In the last meeting on Nov. 30, 1963, Youngstown won 117-81. The Penguins now lead the series, 4-0.

Malone (7-4) was within 33-31 at halftime.

“Not only did Vytas have a big night at the offensive end, but he had some great assists with his drives,” Slocum said. “I thought we played very well in the second half at the defensive end which generated offense for us.”

With upcoming games at North Carolina State and Kent, Slocum’s emphasis is on getting better.

“We have guys who have potential. We just have to get better,” he said of the challenge of facing Atlantic Coast Conference and Mid-American teams back-to-back.

“We got our work cut out.”

Sulskis said that YSU (5-4) came ready to play.

“Although we had a slow start, we battled, then, in the second half we didn’t get down on ourselves.”

Of playing NC State and Kent, he said: “It’ll be a good test, but we’re used to playing tough teams, then we come back and start playing in the Horizon League.”

Malone coach Tim Walker said that Youngstown’s first-half field goal percentage of 38.2 percent (13 of 34) wasn’t much better than his Pioneers’ 36 percent (9 of 25).

“We felt that if we shot it well, we could defend and have a chance,” he said. “I know they missed some shots in the first half, and we shot a little bit better than normally, but we felt like our kids battled well and we really hung in there.”

The second half was a different story.

“They [YSU] got it going a little bit and we had a stretch where we couldn’t make anything,” Walker said. “Meanwhile, they were getting a bucket every time, which had a lot to do with it.

“We struggled [on offensive boards] and we knew going into the game that that was going to be a big battle tonight. We’re not a very big team to begin with, even at our level, and then to play the athletes that Youngstown has, we knew it was going to be difficult on the boards.”

Malone took an early 12-9 lead on Nick Watts’ 3-pointer at 15:15, but YSU pulled within 12-11 on Eargle’s dunk at 14:25. Less than a minute later, Sulskis saw an open lane and dribbled in for a layup at 13:36.

Youngstown built on its slim 13-12 lead when Sulskis hit a 3-pointer at 13:12. Sulskis owed his opportunity to DuShawn Brooks, who had scrambled for the ball on the floor on the other end of the court.

YSU’s lead went to 26-20 before Malone battled back to take a 27-26 edge on Isiah Elliott’s 3-pointer at 4:15.

In Malone’s string of comeback points were a pair of technical shots made by Jock Rottman. Eric Coblentz’s two free throws at 4:00 pushed the Pioneers’ lead to 29-26.

Then, a pair of Eargle free throws, a Sulskis basket and a Brewer field goal and free throw gave the Penguins enough of a cushion to take a 33-31 lead into the locker room at halftime.

At the half, YSU had a 26-14 advantage on the boards, with Sulskis and Brewer each grabbing six and Eargle five.

Youngstown shot out to a 52-45 lead in the first nine minutes of the second half, then increased the margin to 62-51.

The Penguins bumped their advantage to 15 points on two occasions at 70-55 and 72-57 before going up by 20 at 78-58.