Perry, Penguins take down Loyola

Staff/wire report

CHICAGO

Kendrick Perry’s 28 points led Youngstown State to an 80-63 victory over Loyola of Chicago on Sunday.

Perry, a sophomore who nearly matched his career best of 30 set on Tuesday in a win at Milwaukee, was 11 for 14 from the field on Sunday, and also contributed seven steals and six assists.

Blake Allen scored 19 points, Damian Eargle added 12 and Ashen Ward finished with 11 points for the Penguins (13-10, 8-5), whose Horizon League win total is their highest since joining 11 seasons ago. They shot 63 percent from the field on Sunday.

Youngstown led 37-30 at halftime, began the second half with a 9-0 run and led by double figures the rest of the way.

“[Loyola] had 15 offensive rebounds in the first half and four in the second half,” said Youngstown State coach Jerry Slocum, “so we really cleaned up that part of the game.

“The first seven minutes of the second half we played really well defensively, and KP [Perry] had a great game,” added Slocum.

Walt Gibler led the Ramblers with 18 points and Jordan Hicks added 16. Loyola (5-18, 0-13) has dropped 11 straight since beating Canisius on Dec. 22.

Perry is also the first YSU player to collect at least six steals in a game since Marlon Williams had six against Missouri-Kansas City on Dec. 21, 2002.

It was also the first time since 2006 that the Penguins shot at least 60 percent from the field in a game.

Perry opened the second half with a steal and layup and after Allen drilled a 3-pointer to go up 12, he added another layup and a jumper to give the Penguins a 16-point cushion.

Ward hit a 3-pointer to put YSU up 56-36 with 15:12 remaining and the Penguins never led by less than 14 points the rest of the way. Perry’s layup at the 3:31 mark put YSU up by a game-high 23 points, 78-55.

In the first half, YSU only trailed twice, 10-9 and 12-11 before Perry scored seven straight points on jumper, two free throws and a 3-pointer to give the Penguins an 18-12 edge.

Ward’s 3-pointer with 7:11 to go gave YSU a 28-21 lead, but Loyola rallied to within 32-30. YSU held the Ramblers scoreless over the last two minutes of the half.