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Bench warms up
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Youngstown State guard Shawn Amiker puts up a shot in front of Fredonia State's Julius Bryany during Tuesday's game at Beeghly Center. Amiker had three points off the bench in a 69-35 win.
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown State point guard Blake Allen had a different kind of court vision on Tuesday night.
Allen scored a team-best 14 points in a season-low 25 minutes, helping the Penguins rout Division III Fredonia State 69-35 in one of those “Who wants to letter?” games at Beeghly Center.
Allen even sported flip-flops in the postgame press conference (although he also wore a polo shirt and dress pants).
“When I came out in the second half, I knew I wasn’t going to come back in and I kind of got a chance to enjoy watching my teammates,” said Allen, who had been averaging a team-high 38.4 minutes per game. “It was definitely a different experience but definitely fun.”
With three straight road games against Mid-American Conference teams looming, Penguins coach Jerry Slocum used Tuesday’s game as a chance to give his young reserves some much-needed playing time.
“We’ve been in so many close games that it’s hard to develop those guys that so drastically need to get their minutes,” Slocum said. “It was a goal for me from the beginning of the night to get those guys in and out and get them some playing time.”
Led by Fletcher Larson’s six points, YSU’s reserves scored a season-best 20 — 12.6 more than their season average. The 35 points were the fewest by a YSU opponent since Hiram scored 35 in 1970.
The Penguins jumped out to a 15-2 lead and held Fredonia State to just 12 first-half points.
“As a whole, I thought we guarded real well,” Slocum said. “The one goal tonight for me was that we were gonna guard well and we were going to try to get as many minutes as we could for the guys who need to do that.
“In that regard, I thought it was a good night for us.”
When asked if there were any improvements he thought needed to be made, Slocum grinned and said, “Oh, sure. You got about an hour?”
DuShawn Brooks continued his strong play with 13 points. Kendrick Perry had 12 points and Damian Eargle had eight points and four blocks for the Penguins (6-2), who play at Buffalo, Toledo and Akron over the next two weeks.
Redshirt freshman guard Shawn Amiker (16 minutes), freshman guard D.J. Cole (15 minutes), Larson (15 minutes) and sophomore guard Nate Perry (11 minutes) all played double-digit minutes and everyone on the roster played at least four.
“Those guys are not going to do anything but get better,” Allen said.
Julius Bryan scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds — both team-highs — for Fredonia State (6-2).
“Coach wanted us to come out and try to hold these guys under 40 points and we were able to do that,” Allen said. “I always root for improvement in every game but overall, I think I was pleased with the effort and so were the coaches.”