YSU men fall by 2 in final second

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Vytas Sulskis scored 17 points, but Youngstown State’s leading scorer, DeAndre Mays, was held to eight and the Penguins lost in the last second to UC-Riverside, 62-60, on Saturday night in the BracketBuster game.

Vance Cooksey added nine points for the Penguins (8-19), who shot just 39 percent (20 of 51) from the field, including 3 of 11 on 3-pointers.

UC-Riverside (11-15) was led by Kyle Austin, Brandon Dowdy and Larry Gurganius. Austin led the team with 13 points and shared team-high rebound honors with six, while Dowdy scored 11 points and Gurganius finished with 10.

Riverside led 36-27 at halftime, and 43-36 with 12 minutes left in the game when the Penguins mounted a comeback.

Sulskis was fouled attempting a 3-pointer, and made all three foul shots to get the Penguins to 43-39.

YSU couldn’t get closer than five points over the next six minutes, until Kelvin Bright scored a basket to make it 49-47 with 6:15 remaining.

Two Cooksey free throws with 1:46 remaining got the Penguins within two, 58-56, with 1:46 to go, then Sulskis scored with 24 seconds left to tie the score at 60.

After a timeout, Riverside’s Lateef McMullan missed a shot with three seconds remaining, but David Chavarria got the offensive rebound and converted it with one second to go.

YSU couldn’t get a shot off before the buzzer.