YSU men fall in OT to Cleveland State

By GREG GULAS

sports@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown State men’s basketball team let its regular-season finale slip away against Cleveland State on Saturday night.

Freshman Darius Quisenberry scored 32 points and Noe Anabir, the Penguins’ lone senior, had a career-high 16, but the Vikings rallied from a 12-point deficit and eventually won 89-80 in overtime.

“We got up 12 and didn’t capitalize. We missed a couple layups, but you have to give them credit because they never stopped playing,” YSU head coach Jerrod Calhoun said. “They’re not going to the postseason but that didn’t matter to them.

“It’s a game that’s always close. I don’t know how many this is because I’ve lost track, but every game went to the wire and three out of four we’re on the wrong end of the stick.”

YSU will open the Horizon League Tournament as the sixth seed on the road against third-seeded Oakland. The quarterfinal game is at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

The Penguins (12-19, 8-10 Horizon League) were playing without Garrett Covington and Atiba Taylor. Calhoun said both were sick.

“It’s tough. Losing Garrett Covington was a very, very difficult task,” he added. “He’s our best defensive player, he’s our toughest player, him and Atiba Taylor are both very, very sick and out with an illness so when you lose your best defender on one of the best players in the league, it’s very, very difficult.

“But our guys didn’t make excuses, they didn’t hang their heads. You’ve got to move on because you have a quick turnaround now at Oakland on Wednesday.”

Quisenberry scored 14 of his points in the opening session to stake the Penguins to a 38-32 halftime advantage.

Two free throws by Quisenberry at 15:01 of the second half gave YSU it’s largest lead of the game at 48-36.

Tyree Appleby’s two free throws then keyed a 23-11 run over the next 7:11 as the Vikings (10-21, 5-15) tied he game at 59.

With the game tied at 71 and the clock winding down, YSU’s Devin Morgan missed a 3-pointer with two seconds remaining and the game went to overtime.

Six points each from Appleby and Jaalam Hill helped CSU outscore the Penguins 18-9 in the extra session for their second straight win and fourth in their final six games.

It was a bittersweet day for Anabir, a native of Geneva, Switzerland, who scored 12 of 16 points in the second half.

Prior to the start of the game and the playing of the national anthem, the YSU band honored Anabir with the playing of the Swiss national anthem.

“It was the biggest, I think, surprise today,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting that, I was really happy about that and I thank the band for just showing me love and for every fan that came here, too.

“Also, they had the flag on the court. It was very special for me and I appreciated that a lot.”