YSU men fall at Wright State

Staff/wire report

DAYTON

For the third straight game, sophomore Ryan Weber set a career scoring high, but the Youngstown State men’s basketball team dropped a 77-67 decision to Wright State on Wednesday at the Nutter Center.

Cole Darling scored 20 points as Wright State beat Youngs-town State for the 14th straight time at the Nutter Center.

JT Yoho and Chrishawn Hopkins added 11 each for Wright State (14-12, 6-5 Horizon League), while Jerran Young and AJ Pacher had 10 apiece.

The Raiders also benefitted from the free-throw line, going 27-of-35.

Weber scored a career-high 21 points while Kendrick Perry had 16 points and five assists putting him over the 100 assists mark for the fourth straight year.

Weber scored 10 of YSU’s first 21 points, but the Raiders outscored the Penguins 9-2 in the final five minutes of the first half to take a 35-31 lead.

Darling scored six of WSU’s 12 points to start the second half and build a 10-point lead.

Weber was 6-of-10 shooting from the floor, including two 3-pointers. Sophomore Bobby Hain scored 12 points and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds for the Penguins.

Perry moved into sixth place on YSU’s all-time scoring list with 1,799 career points and needs just one more to become the sixth player in school history to score 1,800 points.

He also needs just five more steals to break the Horizon League career steals record of 237. Perry is YSU’s all-time steals leader with 233.

With the loss, the Penguins fall to 13-11 overall and 4-5 in the Horizon League while Wright State improves to 14-12 overall and 6-5 in the league.

The Penguins, who led by as many as seven in the first half, owned a 29-23 lead with 5:58 left after a Perry jumper. At the 4:28 of the half, Weber was called for a flagrant foul and the Raiders went on a 12-2 run to close out the half in the lead.

The Raiders, who attempted more free throws and field goals in the second half (21-20) opened the second half on a 12-6 run to push their lead to 10, 47-37, at the 16:04 mark.

After a 3-pointer by Perry cut the lead down to seven, 47-40, the Raiders scored seven straight points, five coming from the free-throw line, to extend the lead to 14, 54-40, with 12:32 to go.

Three free throws and an old-fashioned three-point play by Weber got the Penguins back within eight, 56-48, with 9:15 remaining, but the Raiders quickly scored the next five points to regain a 13-point lead.