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Green Bay torches YSU defense
Gallery
By DAN HINER
YOUNGSTOWN
The last time the Youngstown State men’s basketball team played Wisconsin-Green Bay, the Penguins’ defense couldn’t stop the Phoenix from scoring. Last season the Penguins allowed Green Bay to score 90 points or more in both contests.
Saturday’s game at Beeghly Center wasn’t any different.
YSU (7-8, 1-1 Horizon League) lost to Green Bay, 90-77, and the Penguins struggled to stop the Green Bay offense and couldn’t create shots offensively.
For the second consecutive game, the Penguins couldn’t convert free throws. YSU shot 7-16 from the foul line.
“Very disappointed on our part,” YSU coach Jerry Slocum said. “Obviously, we didn’t take away anything they do well — like transition defense.
“Our free-throw shooting was not very good. Self-inflicted wounds all night.”
The Penguins went into halftime trailing 44-30. YSU made 13 of its 20 two-point attempts in the first half, but the Penguins missed all 10 3-pointers.
Green Bay (8-6, 2-0) also capitalized on 10 YSU turnovers in the first half. The Phoenix converted those turnovers into 19 points.
The Penguins started the second half slow as well. YSU shot 2 for 7 and missed its first two free throw attempts to start the second half. YSU also continued to turn the ball over, finishing with 17 turnovers on the day.
But YSU started to claw back in the final 10 minutes.
With 9:23 remaining, the Penguins were down 68-48. YSU guard Francisco Santiago scored 14 consecutive points to jump-start the Penguins’ offense and cut the Green Bay lead to 74-62.
The Penguins reduced the lead to 81-73 after YSU guards Braun Hartfield and Cameron Morse combined to hit three straight 3-pointers with a layup by Santiago.
Morse led the Penguins with 24 points. Santiago recorded his fifth double-double of the season after he was second on the team with 18 points. He led the team with 10 rebounds.
Hartfield scored nine points and grabbed six rebounds in 21 minutes, but fouled out with 1:45 remaining.
The final possessions of the game were rushed by YSU and the Penguins settled for poor shots.
“We cut it to eight and I thought our next three possessions after that were hurried, and forced and we did not take good basketball IQ shots at that time,” Slocum said.
Green Bay outscored the Penguins 48 to 40 in the paint. Many of the points came in transition, but several easy layups were a result of back-door cuts with no one guarding the baseline.
“We couldn’t stay in front of them. That’s their game, they like to drive it. We couldn’t guard. We couldn’t guard the dribble,” Slocum said.
One of the few bright spots for the Penguins was the team’s ability to grab offensive rebounds. YSU out-rebounded the Phoenix on the offensive glass 12 to 6. The Penguins converted those into 15 second-chance points.
YSU forward Devin Haygood contributed 11 points off the bench. Haygood was a match-up problem for the Green Bay defense when he was in the game. His position in the post led to fouls by the Green Bay front court and easy layup opportunities for the Penguins.
The Penguins scored 26 points off the bench, but Green Bay’s bench scored 44.
“Dev’s played really well since he’s come back — had a great game Thursday night too,” Slocum said. “I thought [Jeremiah Ferguson] gave us some good minutes in terms of playing hard.
“We’ve got to shoot the ball better. It’s disappointing to turn the ball over 17 times. The only way they really score is in transition, and to give up 48 transition points is very disappointing.”