Penguins lose a close one to Wright State

Staff report

Dayton

Senior Vytas Sulskis tied a career high with 26 points but the Youngstown State men’s basketball fell to Wright State 74-70, at the Nutter Center on Monday.

Sulskis, who scored 20 points in the first half, made his first nine field goals and six 3-point attempts while freshman Kendrick Perry scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half and dished out seven assists.

The Penguins made 11 total 3-pointers and shot 42.3 percent from behind the arc. It marked the sixth time this season the team has made at least 10 such shots in a contest.

The Penguins shot 52.1 percent from the field and fall to 8-16 overall and 2-12 in the Horizion League. Wright State improves to 17-9 overall and 8-4 in the conference.

The game featured 15 ties and 16 lead changes and a lead of no more than five points by either team. Wright State’s Cole Darling converted two free throws with 1:18 to go to give the Raiders a 69-68 lead for the games final lead change.

N’Gai Evans’ steal and layup gave the Raiders a 71-68 lead with 1:01 to go. Perry brought the Penguins within one, 71-70, with a at jumper with 37 seconds remaining, but Evans added two more charity tosses to extend the lead back to three points, 73-70, with 17 seconds to go.

Junior Ashen Ward’s game-tying 3-point attempt with 12 seconds left was off the mark and the Raiders’ Matt Vest made one of two free throws for the final score of the game.

The Penguins shot 62.5 percent in the first half, but committed 11 turnovers that the Raiders turned into 15 points.

The Raiders’ largest lead was four points while YSU’s largest lead was four points at three different times in the first half.

Ward made a jumper at the 7:11 mark to go up 25-21, then made a 3-pointer with 5:00 to go to take a 31-27 advantage and Perry made a layup with 4:05 left to go up 33-29.