Keene, Vaughn to leave YSU basketball progam

March 25, 2015 at 12:05a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

A difficult regular season has spilled over into the offseason for the Youngstown State’s men’s basketball team.

Sophomore starters Marcus Keene and Osandai Vaughn will leave the program, sources said Tuesday, leaving the Penguins with just one returning starter from the Horizon League’s worst team.

A YSU spokesman declined comment on the news.

Keene, who did not respond to an interview request, started all 32 contests and averaged 15.6 points per game, best on the team and sixth in the Horizon League. The San Antonio, Texas, native was actually expected to transfer after the 2013-14 season after he was suspended for the final 10 games after punching then-teammate Ryan Weber in practice. Weber opted to transfer to Ball State, where he sat out this season, prompting the coaching staff to ask Keene to return.

After a quiet non-conference schedule, Vaughn started the final 17 games of the regular season — including 16 in conference play — and scored double figures in 12 of them. He did not play in the first-round Horizon League tournament loss at Detroit.

Vaughn averaged 19.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and two assists per game as a freshman at Cape Fear Community College in 2013-14, but said he had to adjust his offensive approach under YSU coach Jerry Slocum.

“The coaching staff has a good philosophy, but it doesn’t fit me,” he said in a telephone interview on Tuesday afternoon. “I’m more of a guy who drives to the basket and he’s a jump-shooting coach, a 3-pointer coach.

“I came in here averaging 20 points per game in junior college and I was shooting like nine free throws a game. He tried to change me and that style of play doesn’t fit me. I’d rather go somewhere where I fit the style of play.”

Vaughn, who grew up in Charlotte, N.C., said he also struggled to adjust to life in northeast Ohio.

“I wasn’t happy about the things to do here in Youngstown, but that was only about five percent [of the decision],” he said. “And it’s cold. That played a major factor.

“Leaving Youngstown is the best thing I could do. I need to go somewhere where my family can get to the games. It’s eight hours from home and I need to get closer.”

YSU (11-21, 2-14 Horizon League) will lose two senior starters to graduation: point guard D.J. Cole and forward Shawn Amiker. A third senior, Fletcher Larson, was dismissed from the team late in the season for violating team rules.

That leaves junior center Bobby Hain as the only returning starter.

Slocum is 118-190 (.383) in 10 seasons at YSU and 699-514 overall. He is entering the final guaranteed year of a contract extension he signed following the 2013 season. It calls for him to make $137,443 per season, the lowest of any head coach in the Horizon League. YSU also has a one-year option for the 2016-17 season.

Penguins athletic director Ron Strollo told The Vindicator at the end of the regular season that Slocum will return for 2015-16.