43
Ashen Ward looks to be team leader
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
On Dec. 30, 2010, Ashen Ward exploded for a career-high 26 points, helping the Penguins earn their first league victory of the season, 71-69, over UIC.
Two nights later, he scored two points on 1 of 5 shooting in a blowout loss to Loyola.
He scored 15 against Cleveland State and 23 against Bowling Green in mid-February, but those efforts were sanwiched around a 4-point game against Detroit.
He averaged 8.9 points per game and made a team-best 50 3-pointers but too often let how he started the game affect how he finished it.
“Sometimes, I felt like if I made my first two shots, I was going to have a good night and if I missed my first two, I’d get down on myself,” said Ward at last month’s media day. “I’ve just got to find my game and maybe grab an extra rebound that’ll get me going.”
Ward, a 6-foot-3 senior forward, is built like a NFL linebacker and gives the Penguins a physical presence, particularly on defense. He also gives the team vocal leadership — “I’ll talk, I’ll yell, I’d do anything to get the guys going,” he said — and four years’ worth of experience.
His 88 career games are 58 more than the next-closest player on the team and he’s hoping to bring more consistency — and more wins — to the team in his final season.
“I’m feeling good — good about my game and the way I can help my teammates and the way my teammates can help me,” he said Monday. “I feel like I’m able to bring something to the table, whether it’s scoring, whether it’s rebounding, whether it’s defensively or whether it’s just me talking.”
Ward is one of four returning starters from a team that went 9-21 last year, including a 2-16 mark in the Horizon League. But the Penguins were more competitive, particularly at home, than the record suggests and YSU coach Jerry Slocum feels they’re capable of finishing in the top third of the conference.
To do so, YSU’s young bench will need to grow up quickly.
The Penguins’ five starters combined to play 149 of 150 games last year. Problem is, the other nine players on the roster have played 25 games — combined.
That youth and inexperience has been evident in the preseason but Ward said they just need time to develop.
“They’re learning,” said Ward, whose team starts the season tonight at Samford. “It’s a process and they’re taking it step by step. Coach would like it to go a little faster but they’re learning and that comes with time and experience.
“I just try to put my hand on them and let them know it’s going to be OK and keep working.”