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Ice-cold Penguins fall to Butler
Photo
Kendrick Perry (3) of Youngstown State is fouled by Butler’s Andrew Smith (44) as he goes in for a layup during their Horizon League game Thursday at YSU’s Beeghly Center. Perry posted 23 points, but the Penguins fell to the Bulldogs, who rallied in the final minutes to win 68-59.
Ice-cold Penguins fall to Butler
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown State University sophomore guard Kendrick Perry had just fouled out, the fans were filing out and for the second time in two weeks, the Penguins had flamed out in a big game at Beeghly Center.
So Perry put his hands on his knees, hung his head and sighed.
A year after hitting the game-winning 3-pointer in the closing seconds to beat Butler, Perry again came up big against the Bulldogs.
He could’ve used some help.
Perry scored a game-high 23 points but the Penguins couldn’t capitalize in front of their second-best crowd of the season, trailing for the final 31 minutes in a 68-59 loss to Butler on Thursday night.
“It was as bad a first half of basketball as we played all year and it was very disappointing,” YSU coach Jerry Slocum said. “We had shown some great mental toughness and some grit to us on the road [last week] and this is the second time that we’ve come home and really have not played with any intensity or focus, which is disappointing.”
Playing in front of just more than 4,000 fans — topped only by the Cleveland State loss on Jan. 28, which drew 6,300 — YSU fell behind by 14 points in the first two minutes of the second half.
But, thanks to some inspired play by Perry, the Penguins (13-11, 8-6 Horizon League) drew within four, 47-43, with 8:28 left. Butler (14-12, 8-6) answered with a 12-4 run to seemingly put the game out of reach.
Thing is, YSU faced almost the exact same situation in last year’s game against Butler, which the Penguins rallied to win 62-60.
Last season, YSU trailed 57-47 with 5:27 left.
This season, YSU trailed 57-47 with 4:50 left.
The difference? On Thursday, the Penguins never got closer than nine down the stretch.
“It was the same score, same time last year and I remember it vividly,” said Butler coach Brad Stevens, whose team didn’t lose again last season until the national championship game. “I thought we succumbed a little bit last year to what was going on. They made some really good plays and we didn’t respond well.
“This year, we responded a lot better.”
The Penguins entered Thursday’s game as the league’s best 3-point shooting team, both in quantity (212 — 31 more than anyone else) and quality (38.1 percent, one percent better than anyone else), but the Bulldogs’ perimeter defense frustrated YSU into a 3-for-17 performance.
YSU junior guard Blake Allen was leading the league with 3.1 3-pointers per game. He shot just 1 of 2 and sat the bench in favor of D.J. Cole for much of the second half. Cole played 14 minutes, scoring just two points on a layup with one second left.
“D.J. is probably our best on-ball defender,” said Slocum, when asked about playing Cole over Allen. “We just to change up the tempo of the game a little bit.”
The loss dropped into a tie for fourth in the league standings and essentially ended any hopes of earning one of the two postseason tournament byes. But with league-leader Valparaiso coming to town Saturday night, there’s no time to dwell on the defeat.
“The thing about this league is you can’t enjoy wins and you can’t mourn losses very long,” Slocum said. “We’ve got to bounce back against what I think is the best team in the league.”