Valpo steals one by 2

YSU blew a five-point lead with two minutes left to lose its ninth straight league game.

By JOE SCALZO

Vindicator sports staff

YOUNGSTOWN — YSU men’s basketball coach Jerry Slocum slowly walked off the court after Saturday’s loss to Valparaiso, running his fingers through his gray hair as he tried to stomach the Penguins’ punch-in-the-gut loss.

“Our kids ... made us proud against Butler [on Thursday] and tonight they gave everything they had,” said Slocum following the 77-75 loss to the Crusaders at Beeghly Center. “It’s hurtful for me as a coach to see these things come up empty.”

YSU (8-17, 2-13) has lost nine straight Horizon League games and 10 straight to the Crusaders. The Penguins earned respect by going toe-to-toe with the 15th-ranked Bulldogs but there was no place for moral victories on Saturday.

YSU led by five with two minutes left and seemed to have the game in control. But three straight turnovers by point guard DeAndre Mays — one on a charge call, one when Mays was trying to save a wild pass from Eddie D’Haiti and one where Mays was probably fouled on a steal — opened the door for an 8-0 Valpo run that gave the Crusaders a 75-72 lead with 26 seconds left.

YSU kept chipping away and Kelvin Bright made two free throws cut the Penguins’ deficit to two (77-75) with five seconds left. Then Valpo’s Brandon Wood missed the front end of a one-and-one with four seconds left to give YSU slim hope. But by the time Vytas Sulskis grabbed the rebound and drove up court, all he could do was toss up a half-court prayer that went over the backboard at the buzzer.

“I thought it was a great basketball game,” said Slocum. “But you’re not going to have [16] turnovers and win close basketball games.

“The effort was there. Just an inexcusable lack of taking care of the basketball caught us.”

The Crusaders (14-14, 9-7) had just nine turnovers — none in the second half — and didn’t panic when they got behind late.

“I think this is our ninth or 10th game decided in last minute,” said Valpo coach Homer Drew. “So when we were down five with two minutes left, I said, ‘Guys, we’ve been here before. You know what you need to do.’”

Freshman Matt Kenney made all four of his free throw attempts in the final minute and finished with 15 points and eight rebounds in what Drew called his “best game in a Valparaiso uniform.” Wood added 22 points, including 4 of 5 from the 3-point line.

Valpo finished 10 of 18 from 3-point range.

“Wow, I didn’t realize that,” Drew said. “We’ll take that every game.”

The loss spoiled a terrific performance junior guard Vytas Sulskis, who scored a season-high 24 points while tying a career-high with 11 rebounds. Sulskis scored eight points in the first 51‚Ñ2 minutes and could have had an even bigger night if he hadn’t picked up three fouls in the first half.

Mays added 18 points and a season-high 10 assists, overcoming a 1-for-10 shooting start to make five of his last seven shots.

Senior guard Kelvin Bright added 18 points as he and Mays played 39 of a possible 40 minutes.

The game featured eight ties and 14 lead changes.

“You look at the Horizon League and it’s close game after close game,” said Drew. “You’ve got to credit Jerry — he has his kids playing very hard and we knew they were going to play hard against us.

“We feel fortunate we were able to make some plays at the end.”

scalzo@vindy.com