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YSU slide continues against Cleveland State
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
When the Youngstown State men’s basketball team coughed up an 18-point lead in the Horizon League opener against UIC on Jan. 2, the Penguins lost more than a game.
They lost their confidence.
Saturday’s game against Cleveland State only made things worse as the bigger, brawnier Vikings overwhelmed YSU en route to a 74-61 win at Beeghly Center.
“We’re not very good right now,” YSU coach Jerry Slocum admitted afterward. “This league is good. We obviously opened [the conference schedule] on the road and lost our confidence, which I feared a little bit.
“Obviously in this stretch, we haven’t played very well but it’s more on the offensive end, not the defensive end.”
Cleveland State junior guard Trey Lewis broke out of a mini-slump, scoring 29 points — the same amount he had in the last four games combined. Lewis was 7 of 13 from behind the arc and played his typically tight defense.
“We knew he wasn’t going to be struggling for a long time,” CSU coach Gary Waters said. “He had a breakout game and it was especially nice to see him hit seven 3s.”
Charlie Lee added 14 points and Anton Grady had 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Vikings (11-9, 5-1), who have a half-game lead over Green Bay and Valparaiso in the league standings.
“Going 5-1 is a good start for us because four of our games have been on the road,” Waters said. “We’ll take it now because the second half of the season, everyone has to come to our place.”
Marcus Keene led the Penguins (9-12, 0-6) with 14 points but eight of those came in the final two minutes when the game was out of reach. Sophomore Osandai Vaughn had 12 points and junior Bobby Hain had 11 points and eight rebounds but YSU finished with 17 turnovers against nine assists.
The Penguins shot just 35 percent from the floor in the first half (7 of 20) in falling behind 31-22. Shawn Amiker scored six straight points to start the second half but CSU got the lead back up to 10 points with 16 minutes left.
They led by double digits the rest of the way.
“Our margin of error is small,” Slocum said. “This group is not going to be able to overcome 17 turnovers.”
The Penguins knew this was going to be a rebuilding year after losing standout senior Kendrick Perry to graduation, but the loss of forward Ryan Weber (who transferred to Ball State) along with a young roster has proven too much to overcome.
“We play really, really good in spots but, again, tonight at one point I think we had three sophomores and a freshman on the floor,” Slocum said. “We’ve got to keep plugging away.”