COLLEGE BASKETBALL | YSU at Buffalo

Road trip: The Youngstown State men’s basketball team (6-2) hits the road for three straight road games. Tip-off for tonight’s game against Buffalo is 7 p.m. at Alumni Arena. The Penguins are off to their best start since the 1997-98 season which they went 20-9 and reached the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament Championship game.

Radio: WKBN-AM 570 will broadcast tonight’s game.

Series: It will be the 27th meeting between the Bulls and Penguins. YSU owns a 14-12 advantage in the series that dates to 1963. Last season, the Penguins snapped a three-game losing streak to the Bulls with a 64-53 win at Beeghly Center. The last time YSU won in Buffalo was a 59-56 victory on Dec. 10, 1979.

Bulls: Buffalo is 5-2 overall and is coming off an 82-74 win over Niagara on Dec. 7. Zach Filzen leads the Bulls with 16.9 points per game while Javon McCrea is averaging 15 points and eight rebounds. Mitchell Watt is also in double figures scoring 13.1 points.

Last game: The Penguins defeated Fredonia State 69-35 on Tuesday at Beeghly Center. Blake Allen led with 14 points and DuShawn Brooks had 13. Kendrick Perry added 12 points and a team-high five rebounds.

Blocks: Junior Damian Eargle has 35 blocks in eight games. His total already ranks eighth on the YSU single-season blocks chart. He needs two more to move into sixth and five more to move into fifth place. His 91 last season rank second on the list.

On a streak: Allen has made at least one 3-pointer in all eight games this season and has made at least one in 15 straight contests. He has also made at least three 3-pointers in five of the eight games this year. Allen leads the Horizon League with 3.3 3-pointers made per game.

Player of the Week: For his performance last week, Brooks was named the Horizon League Player of the Week for Dec. 5. Brooks averaged 20.5 points per game and shot 61.5 percent from the field and 64.3 percent from 3-point range. He scored a career-high 24 points against Detroit on Dec. 1 to lead the Penguins to a 64-61 win. He also led the team with 17 points in a one-point loss to Wright State on Dec. 3.

Staff report