Penguins hope 3rd time produces charming win

By Tom Williams

“We played them great two times. And we’ve been playing [better over] the last two-to-three weeks. Of course, we’ve had our hearts broken.”

Jerry Slocum

YSU coach

YSU plays Wisconsin-Green Bay in a Horizon League tournament game.

When the Youngstown State University men’s basketball team arrived in Green Bay, Wis., on Monday, Penguins coach Jerry Slocum noticed that there was less snow there than in Northeast Ohio.

Asked if that could be a good omen for tonight’s Horizon League tournament game against Wisconsin-Green Bay, Slocum laughed.

“I’m not sure about that,” Slocum said. “I just know it’s a lot colder here than it was in California.”

Slocum’s Penguins (8-21- 2-16) are seeded 10th in the tournament and face third-seeded Wisconsin-Green Bay (20-11, 11-7). Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. at the Resch Center.

Slocum is hoping the third time against the Phoenix will produce a charming result and snap a nine-game losing streak. YSU’s last win was on Jan. 27 against North Carolina Central.

“In the other two games [against Green Bay], we played them very close until the last four or five minutes,” Slocum said.

A week before Christmas, the Penguins made their first trip to Green Bay, losing 75-67.

In the Jan. 24 rematch at Beeghly Center, the Penguins fell, 69-55.

Green Bay junior Rahmon Fletcher, who on Monday was named to the All-Horizon League first team for the second straight season, is one of three Phoenix players that Slocum said the Penguins need to contain. The others are Troy Cotton and Randy Berry.

Fletcher is averaging a career-best 16.6 points per game, the second-highest average in the league. In conference games, Fletcher averaged 17.1 points per contest to lead all Horizon scorers.

Fletcher ranks among the league leaders in steals per game (third, 1.8) and field goal percentage (eighth, .475).

“Fletcher scored 28 points in the first game and Cotton had 23 in the second,” Slocum said. “The key is to keep those three guys in check. They’re going to get their shots so you can’t shut them out, but we can’t let them explode with big numbers.”

Slocum’s goal is to keep the Phoenix close for as long as possible. To do that, he needs his Penguins to reach their scoring averages.

“We’ve go to answer with our guys who average in double figures to put up their numbers,” Slocum said.

Penguins guard DeAndre Mays is averaging 14.3 points while forward Vytas Sulskis has been contributing 11.5 per game. Just short of double figures is Kelvin Bright with 9.6 per game.

Should the Penguins pull off the upset, they would travel to Indianapolis for a second-round game on Friday against the winner of the Detroit-Valparaiso game.

“We played them great two times,” Slocum said of the Phoenix. “And we’ve been playing [better over] the last two-to-three weeks. Of course, we’ve had our hearts broken.”

In Saturday’s 62-54 home loss to Detroit, Mays scored 13 points and Bright 11.

As for omens, the last time these two teams met in a tournament game at the Resch Center (March 4, 2003), the Penguins won, 65-61.

williams@vindy.com