Shaky half costs YSU vs. Horizon League leader

January 20, 2019 at 12:09a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

The ability to close out a tight contest at the Beeghly Center continues to elude Youngstown State’s basketball team.

YSU hung with the Horizon League’s leader but faltered in the final 10 minutes of the contest in an 82-74 defeat.

“You have to play the whole 40 minutes. It’s what [coach Jerrod Calhoun] keeps telling us,” Penguins guard Donel Cathcart III said. “It’s definitely frustrating.

“You’re just down and you don’t really want to do anything after the game. You worry about the would have, should have and could have.”

Saturday’s loss brought back shades of Thursday’s 80-74 loss to Wright State. In that game, the Penguins didn’t score for three minutes during for the final four-and-a-half minutes of the game.

On Saturday, Northern Kentucky (16-4, 6-1 Horizon League) called timeout after YSU’s Darius Quisenberry hit two free throws to put the score at 60-57 in favor of the Norse with 8:41 remaining. Over the course of the next three-and-a-half minutes, the Norse outscored the Penguins 13-4.

“We’re not ready. We’re not quite there yet for those final five to eight minutes. As a coach, you chuckle and go ‘here we go again,’” Calhoun said. “With this generation of players, you have to get them tougher. We have to get tougher in those final 10 minutes.

“There’s a fine line where you’re trying to encourage them and be positive. I was going up and down the court trying to get some energy and they responded,” he said. “They’re playing really hard. We’re just having those really tough moments down the stretch.”

Cathcart came off the bench to lead YSU (6-15, 2-6) with 16 points and Antwan Maxwell added 13 as a reserve. Garrett Covington and Darius Quisenberry were the only starters in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

“The biggest difference in this game was that we couldn’t get any looks off our ball screens,” Calhoun said. “They did a tremendous job on Darius and most of our guys on ball screens.

“Our eight assists to 11 turnovers had everything to do with their defense. They did a tremendous job in pick and roll coverage.”

Northern Kentucky star Drew McDonald — the Horizon League’s only player to average a double double — scored 23 points and had seven rebounds. Jalen Tate and Tyler Sharpe each scored 13 points.

“I told [NKU coach John Brannen] that if they win the [League] tournament, I’d love to see them make a run and get him out of the League. Let’s get him an $800,000 to $900,000 job,” Calhoun said.

“I’m sure he’d take the payday because he does a great job.”

YSU has to start worrying about its own tournament hopes. The Penguins are sitting in second to last place in the League’s 10-team standings and starting this year, the bottom two teams in the League don’t get to play in the conference tournament. The team is a game-and-a-half behind the University of Illinois at Chicago (9-11, 3-4) and is two games ahead of Cleveland State (5-16, 0-8), who will host YSU on Saturday.

“In the last two years, the No. 10 seed has been in the championship game. I wasn’t for that and I don’t think it’s what we should have done as a league, but I’m not a commissioner, a president or an athletic director,” Calhoun said.

“I think every team in the Horizon League deserves a chance to play in a conference tournament, so we have to put ourselves in a position to get into the tournament and as you can see, this team could be really dangerous. We’re right there.”

By scoring nine points on Saturday, YSU point guard Devin Morgan surpassed 1,000 points for his career. The junior now has 1,002 points, with 833 from his two seasons at Delaware State and 169 at YSU.