No ‘O’: Valpo shuts down YSU

Staff report

VALPARAISO, IND.

Sophomore Blake Allen scored a career-high 17 points and sophomore Damian Eargle added 15 points with eight rebounds and four blocks, but the Youngstown State men’s basketball team dropped a 79-55 decision to Valparaiso on Friday evening at the Athletics-Recreation Center.

Allen connected on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor and converted 5-of-6 of his 3-point field goal attempts, including four treys in the second half for the Penguins (6-8, 1-4 Horizon League).

Valparaiso (11-5, 3-1) shot an impressive 54.2 percent from the field for the game while the Penguins connected on 33.9 percent of their field goal attempts.

After falling behind 15-5 early in the first half, the Penguins used their own 15-5 run to knot the game at 20-20 after a 3-pointer by junior Ashen Ward with 5:15 to go before halftime.

After a 3-pointer by Valparaiso’s Jay Harris, Eargle hit a jumper to cut the Crusaders’ lead down to one, but Harris drained another 3-pointer to put Valpo up four, 26-22, with 4:15 to go.

The Crusaders pushed their lead by to eight points, 34-26, but a free throw by Ward and another jumper by Eargle trimmed the deficit to five, 34-29, at halftime.

Valparaiso opened the second half on a 20-4 run over the first seven minutes to take a 21-point lead, 54-33, with 13 minutes left.

Allen hit three 3-pointers over the next minute-and-a-half and junior Devonte Maymon made a layup to cut the Crusader lead to 12, 56-44, with 10:34 to go but the Penguins would get no closer.

Senior Vytas Sulskis scored just six points — 9.5 below his season average. He needs four to move into 20th on YSU’s career scoring list with 1,131.

The Penguins visit Butler, Sunday, at 2 p.m. at Hinkle Fieldhouse.