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YSU drops tight contest
By STEVE WILAJ
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown State tied Saturday’s contest against Detroit at 78 with just more than five minutes to go. After the teams then traded baskets on the following two possessions, Titans coach Ray McCallum realized the key to the final few minutes.
“It was kind of like who had the ball last,” the eighth-year Detroit coach said. “Luckily, we had it last down the stretch and made enough free throws.”
Despite a solid bounce-back effort, YSU was ousted by the Titans, 94-92, at Beeghly Center, as the Penguins (9-16, 4-8 Horizon League) dropped their fourth straight game.
Technically, YSU had the last possession — if you want to count a three-quarters court heave by Jordan Andrews a possession — but Detroit (12-11, 6-6), led by Paris Bass’ 20 points, made one more play in the final minutes to escape with a win.
“We just played hard,” YSU coach Jerry Slocum said. “We had a great crowd tonight (3,516 announced attendance) — our marketing people did a great job to get people here and they saw a great doubleheader.
“I feel bad our people haven’t seen some of our efforts we’ve had on the road. ...But we played hard tonight. Coulda, shoulda won the game.”
The contest featured 12 ties and 24 lead changes.
Bass reeled off six straight points to push Detroit’s lead to three points with 2:47 left. But YSU’s Cameron Morse — who scored a game-high 30 points — notched a layup and, after the Titans’ Chris Jenkins made a free throw, Brett Frantz’s layup tied the contest at 87.
Detroit then stretched its lead to 91-87 with 1:09 remaining. Penguins point guard Latin Davis answered with a layup and Andrews was called for a flagrant foul on Bass with just 12 seconds remaining.
Bass made one of two free throws to make it 92-89, before Josh McFolley missed two free throws with four seconds left. The freshman Andrews rebounded the second miss and heaved it a bit prematurely as time expired.
“We didn’t have any timeouts left,” Slocum said. “We were trying to get the rebound and then run a screen for the guy driving. Having four seconds, he could have got it to at least the half court line. But he takes one dribble and throws it. It’s bad basketball IQ.”
The Penguins, who shot 55 percent from the field, also did some bad free throw shooting, finishing just 9 of 17 at the foul line. Detroit shot 65 percent overall and 16 of 25 at the charity stripe.
“We lost because of missed free throws,” said Morse, who is averaging 19.9 points per game. “So we can’t blame no one but ourselves.”
Added McCallum: “Coming in, it was an important game for us with our record. We haven’t had a lot of success on the road, so to get a road win in here, we’re happy. You know they have a good team.”
The Titans, who led 45-44 at halftime, had six players in double figures. YSU, meanwhile, also received 14 points from Matt Donlan and 13 points from Brett Frantz, who went 5 of 6 from the field in 14 minutes off the bench (3 of 3 from 3-point range).
“[Frantz] definitely contributed in a positive way,” Slocum said.
YSU has two more games on its four-game homestand, as it hosts Cleveland State on Saturday and UIC on Feb. 16. The Penguins were coming off a 107-85 loss to Oakland on Thursday.
“We knew we had to come out with a big spurt today,” Morse said. “But unfortunately we came up with the loss.”