Slocum unhappy with YSU’s effort in loss

December 18, 2014 at 12:09a.m.

By STEVE WILAJ

youngstown

Going into Youngstown State’s home matchup with Kennesaw State on Wednesday, head coach Jerry Slocum had been a part of 174 losses in his 10 years with the Penguins.

As for loss 175 — which came in the form of a 90-84 Owls victory at the Beeghly Center — Slocum put it in an especially ugly class.

“That’s as bad as a loss as I’ve had since I’ve been here,” he said. “This group has been distant the past 10 days of practice. We haven’t practiced hard or practiced well. And when you do those things, these kinds of things happen.

“It’s a very, very disappointing loss.”

Kennesaw State (4-7) — which entered on a three-game losing streak — came out hot and never let up, shooting its way to a 53-percent clip (33 of 62), including 11 of 25 from behind the 3-point arc. The Owls led by as many as 11 points in the second half and never let the Penguins get closer than within four down the stretch.

Nigel Pruitt paced KSU with 29 points, Delbert Love scored 24 points and Yonel Brown added 18. Bobby Hain led YSU (7-6) with 26 points and a career-high 17 rebounds, while Shawn Amiker notched 21 points and D.J. Cole scored 18.

“No disrespect to them. They made some tough shots and they came in playing loose and playing well,” Slocum said. “But we were horrific.”

With the loss, YSU — which entered Wednesday coming off a loss at Texas A&M on Saturday — fell to 3-2 at home. However, two of the Beeghly Center wins have come against Divison III opponents.

“We have not played at home well,” Slocum said. “We have not played with the same intensity that we play with on the road. That’s a group tonight that did not have much heart.”

Kennesaw State jumped on the Penguins and led 46-41 at the half. Pruitt scored 17 early points and knocked down four of his game-high six 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes. He was assisted by Brown’s 14 first half points.

The Owls then built its lead to 74-63 with 7:27 remaining in the contest. A Marcus Keene 3 cut the YSU deficit to six points with 3:08 left, but KSU immediately pushed its lead back to 10 a minute later. Keene, the Penguins’ leading scorer, finished with just 14 points on 5 of 14 shooting.

Cole connected on a 3-pointer with 17.6 seconds left to make it 88-84, but a Pruitt free throw and missed Cole 3 ended YSU’s comeback attempt.

“Sometimes we played bad defense, but they knocked down some tough shots as well, so give them credit,” Hain said. “And they outworked us at our positions and came up with the rebounds.”

The Penguins host Wilberforce at 1:30 p.m. on Friday. The YSU women host matchup with Ohio Valley at 11 a.m. in the first game of a doubleheader.