Late arrivers to Wednesday’s matchup between the Youngstown State University men’s basketball team and Thiel College at the Beeghly
Center may have felt a little cheated.
The deciding run in the Penguins 82-58 victory took only six minutes, as YSU jumped out to a 20-2 advantage and never looked back.
“I thought that we came out and moved the ball well early in the game,” head coach Jerry Slocum. “I thought we shared it and guarded great.”
The Penguins outscored Division III Thiel 49-28 in the first half, as six players finished the game in double figures. Kamren Belin led all scorers with 13 points, Shawn Amiker added 12 and Ryan Weber and DJ Cole each totaled 11.
Bobby Hain and Kendrick Perry also had 10 points apiece.
“Team like this we play sometimes not as serious,” Belin said. “They get on a run and some loose balls, but we didn’t want that to happen. So we came out focused.”
Belin said he came out especially focused, trying to break his early season habit of starting games slowly.
“I’ve been playing horrible in first halves,” he said. “So I let the game come to me and get in a flow and it worked out perfectly.”
Slocum wasn’t entirely happy with the victory though. YSU only outscored the Tomcats 33-30 in the second half.
He was particularly unhappy with the final eight minutes of the contest.
“There is a level of play I expect from our guys – one through 14,” Slocum said. “Those are really important minutes to me because you have a bunch of freshman on the floor that you are projecting to be guys that are going to help in the future.”
Still, YSU improves to 5-1 on the season heading into another Division III matchup with Westminster College Saturday at 11:15a.m. inside the Beeghly Center.
“I’m thankful for the win but there’s a standard of play that I expect from our guys,” Slocum said. “I don’t think we got that in our last eight minutes of play.”
