YSU Penguins go winless on road with loss to Detroit

Staff report

DETROIT

Detroit outscored the Youngstown State men’s basketball team 18-6 over the final eight minutes of the first half and held off a late charge to win 91-79 in a Horizon League game Wednesday at Calihan Hall.

YSU’s largest deficit was 23 with 16 minutes remaining, but the Penguins trimmed that down to 15 with 12:25 left. The margin was eventually down to nine with 2:17 left following a 17-7 run, but that’s as close as the Penguins would get in their final regular season road game.

YSU dropped to 0-13 on the road and has lost 22 straight conference road games, dating back to Feb. 7, 2009.

Damian Eargle matched a career high with 25 points, and the sophomore forward added 11 rebounds and five blocks for YSU (8-18, 2-14). All three of those stats were game highs as well.

The Penguins trailed just 30-25 with 8:04 remaining in the first half, but they had just two more field goals the rest of the period and missed their final six attempts from beyond the 3-point arc. That helped Detroit (15-14, 9-8) take a 48-31 lead at halftime.

The Penguins shot 36.8 percent for the game and were just 7-for-35 beyond the 3-point arc.

YSU broke the previous school record for 3-pointers in a season when Ashen Ward hit a triple with 14:29 left in the first half.

The Penguins have made 206 3-pointers this season, surpassing the previous mark of 199 set during the 1997-98 season.

Five players scored in double figures, led by 24 points from Nick Minnerath.

Ray McCallum added 14 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.