Sunday, January 15, 2017
YOUNGSTOWN
Cameron Morse tried to do everything he could, but in the end the Youngstown State men’s basketball team suffered its second loss in three nights.
The junior scored 40 points in Saturday’s 92-89 overtime loss to Illinois-Chicago at Beeghly Center.
It was a frustrating night that left Morse slapping the media table after giving that performance.
“[Scoring 40] feels pretty good but we lost so it really means nothing now,” Morse said. “Getting 40 and winning, there’s nothing better than that.”
It was a close game throughout that saw 21 ties and 15 lead changes.
YSU head coach Jerry Slocum said he thought his team didn’t “embrace” the decisive moments in the second half and overtime.
“I’m obviously disappointed,” Slocum said. “I thought we had opportunities to win the game five or six times. We had some very, very bad mental lapses on the defensive end. It’s a disappointing night.”
Neither team did much to impress in the first half. UIC (10-8, 3-2 Horizon League) took a 30-27 lead into halftime despite shooting 34 percent overall and 3-18 from 3-point land.
The Penguins (8-11, 2-4) went 0-8 from beyond the arc in that first half before Morse decided he needed to take over.
“[Slocum] is never going to say it but I just have to know this is the time to take over,” Morse said. “My team needs me to score and this is the perfect time to take over the game.”
While he did end up with 40 points, it wasn’t an efficient 40.
“[Morse] got 40 but he took 35 shots to get 40,” UIC head coach Steve McClain said.
One of the keys down the stretch was the play of Kyle Guice, who 4-8 on 3-pointers, all after halftime. The Flames shot 8-13 from beyond the arc in the second half.
“We don’t usually play Kyle inside but we almost got put in the position with guys fouling out where we had to,” McClain said. “But then we decided he’s not an inside guy so we decided to just pass, cut and move.
“It worked to our benefit because our guys found him and kicked it to him. He got great looks and knocked them down.”
YSU held UIC’s leading scorer, Tai Odiase, to just two points, but five other Flames scored 12 or more points, including Dominique Matthews’ 21 points and Tarkus Ferguson’s 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Combine that with YSU shooting 13-23 from the free throw line, and it was a recipe for disaster.
“We were horrific from the foul line,” Slocum said.
Matt Donlan continued his trend of poor performances. The senior went scoreless in 28 minutes, not even shooting the ball after halftime.
“I think it was just an off night,” Morse said. “Monday against Detroit, we’ll bounce back quickly.”
Filling that void was Braun Hartfield and Devin Haygood, who scored 19 and 10 points respectively. Each also grabbed seven rebounds.
“Braun is playing really well,” Slocum said. “He’s a kid who’s really kind of pushing the envelope to be a star.”
YSU will get on a bus this morning to travel to play Detroit (3-14, 1-4) who just came off a win against conference-rival Oakland, 93-88 on Friday.
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