YSU’s Slocum joins college basketball’s 700 club

— ysu men’s basketball —

Staff and wire reports

Fort Myers, Fla.

Bobby Hain scored a career-high 29 points and collected 10 rebounds to lead Youngstown State to a 79-69 victory on Monday over North Dakota for the Penguins’ first victory this season and the 700th of Jerry Slocum’s collegiate career.

Jorden Kaufman added a career-high 17 points, sophomore Cameron Morse scored 14 and classmate Francisco Santiago added 10 points and seven of the Penguins’ 20 assists. YSU (1-4) made 34 of 61 shots for 55.7 percent.

“I’m excited for all of the players that have played for me” Slocum said. “I’m really excited for my wife, Kim. She’s been special and she has been through all of them.

“How good was Bobby and Jorden tonight? They couldn’t guard us down [in the post]. Those two gave us a great lift tonight.”

Quinton Hooker had 24 points and 10 rebounds for North Dakota (2-3), the third double-double of the junior’s career. Cortez Seales added 18 points and eight rebounds.

The Penguins went on a 14-4 run to build a 20-point lead with 5:07 to go.

Slocum is in his 40th year as a head coach with the last 10 years spent at YSU, where he is 119-194. He is 700-518 overall.

The game was played as part of the FGCU Classic.

Hain’s double-double was his second straight and the 20th of his career. He became just the 23rd player in school history to score at least 1,100 points in a career. He ranks 23rd with 1,112 career points.

Hain was 12-of-17 from the field. He made a pair of 3-pointers with four assists, two steals and a block.

The Penguins led by just three, 34-31, at the half but opened the half on a 23-6 run to take a 19-point lead, 57-38, with 12:54 to go. Hain scored 12 of the Penguins first 16 points of the second half and scored 19 of his points after halftime.

The Fighting Hawks fought their way back to a 10-point deficit, 57-47, with nine minutes left, but YSU used a 14-4 run keyed by 3-pointers by Morse and Hain and a layup by Kaufman to take a 71-51 lead with five minutes to go.

North Dakota chipped the Penguins’ deficit to eight with just 27 seconds left, but Hain put the finishing touches on the game with a pair of free throws.

YSU hosts Thiel on Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 7:05 p.m. at Beeghly Center.