Penguins’ magic falls in overtime

February 6, 2011 at 12:02a.m.

YSU played toe-to-toe with the Horizon League contenders

YOUNGSTOWN

Kendrick Perry’s buzzer-beater basket to force overtime against Valparaiso had his Youngstown State basketball team feeling as hot as football fans with a Super Bowl tickets.

But in Saturday’s extra session at Beeghly Center, the Penguins finished as flat as the big screens most of the nation will be watching tonight.

Led by Brandon Wood’s quickness and scoring skills, the Crusaders scored the final eight points in the last 67 seconds for an 86-78 victory over the Penguins.

“Obviously, we are very disappointed,” YSU coach Jerry Slocum said. “Sixteen turnovers — 12 in the seconds half — was the difference in the ball game.”

Cory Johnson’s basket with 1:07 remaining snapped a 78-78 tie. Wood then stole the ball off YSU’s Blake Allen and fed Erik Buggs for a layup with 35 seconds to go.

Wood then sealed the victory with four free throws to finish with 31 points.

“You have to credit Youngstown after their great win on Thursday night, they came out and played very well and hit the [shot] to tie it,” Valparaiso coach Homer Drew said, referring to YSU’s 62-60 win over Butler. “I thought we had pretty good defense [on Perry], a high hand and he makes it to tie the game. He’s just a quality freshman.”

Jumping out to a 16-4 lead, the Penguins (8-15, 2-11 Horizon League) were poised for the second-straight conference win and upset after snapping an eight-game league losing skid.

But the Crusaders (17-7, 9-4) rallied despite having to overcome extreme free throw troubles (19-for-40). The win has them a half game behind Cleveland State for first place.

“We’re back in the hunt, tied with Cleveland State in losses,” Drew said. “It shows you how tough this league is that Youngstown can beat anyone in our league. They are competitive, they play hard and there are no easy games in the Horizon League.”

With a game Monday at Wright State, Slocum probably doesn’t agree.

“Thursday wins are very short-lived,” Slocum said of the momentum YSU felt at tip-off. “It was a tough physical war — how much we have left in the tank for Monday night is yet to be seen.”

Perry’s shot at the end of regulation capped several close calls by YSU to take a late lead. Trailing 70-69 with 11.3 to go, Vytas Sulskis’ shot rimmed out to the Crusaders’ Ryan Broekhoff. His free throw put Valparaiso ahead by two.

“They got some lucky bounces and we’ve just got to get better,” Sulskis said. “I had a small guy on me, I pulled up and shot over him. I thought it was going in for sure, but it rimmed out. That happens. But Kendrick hit a big shot.”

Sulskis led the Penguins with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Perry and DeShawn Brooks each scored 15 points while Ashen Ward had 11.

The Crusaders dominated on the boards, outrebounding (45-32) and outscoring YSU in the paint (46-20). Slocum said that wasn’t all the fault of his big men.

“We didn’t guard well down there and certainly didn’t defend their post presence at all,” Slocum said. “[But] it was more us not being able to guard the ball when they drove it to points in the paint.

“We’ve been playing good basketball for a while [but] there was a four-minute stretch there where we didn’t get a shot up,” Slocum said. “ “When you are playing the best teams in the league, you’re not going to have nights where [you’re going] to beat those teams with those type of gaps in your game.” We just could not overcome those gaps tonight.”