By Cameron Mitchell / The Jambar
After wrapping up the first of two games inside Beeghly Center, Youngstown State University rose on top of Northern Kentucky University on Jan. 8 with a 72-61 win in Horizon League play.
Youngstown State started strong against Northern Kentucky, as fifth-year senior Ty Harper scored the team’s first points.
The ’Guins continued to control the entire first half, with a mixture of three-pointers and defensive stops. Sophomore Gabe Dynes had three blocks, adding to his historic career of 107 blocks.
As of today, Dynes leads the NCAA in blocks with 61, scoring a total of nine in the win over Northern Kentucky.
Junior Juwan Maxey started the game in absence of senior EJ Farmer. He finished the game with 19 points, two rebounds and two assists.
After dominating the first half and owning a 42-25 lead, the Penguins came back quiet at the beginning of the second half. The team made nine shots in the paint and six beyond the arc.
For Northern Kentucky, graduate student Trey Robinson finished the game with 19 points and six rebounds, leading his team in both categories.
Youngstown State stayed inside Beeghly Center to face off against Cleveland State University on Jan. 11. In the final minutes of the game, YSU suffered an 80-72 loss to the Vikings.
In the Horizon League, both teams rank in the top three for defense — CSU is ranked No. 1, while YSU is No. 2.
The Penguins started the game with an early 11-2 lead and maintained it for 15 minutes, but ended the first period down 37-31.
Head Coach Ethan Faulkner said YSU endured a defensive drought, which allowed CSU to capitalize offensively.
“We went for a long stretch and lost our aggressiveness. We came out of the gate very aggressive, obviously got [off] to a great start. [We were] very disruptive with our defense,” Faulkner said. “Then, for whatever reason, [we] kind of just lost our aggressiveness.”
Towards the end of the first period, the Vikings started to heat up from the field. The team went 16 of 31 in the first period and finished the game 29 of 59 inside the paint.
Cleveland States’ top scorer was sophomore Tahj Staveskie, with 21 points, two assists, one rebound and a steal.
The Vikings had three other players score in double figures. Junior Tevin Smith had 14 points and seven assists, while the 6-foot-9-inch junior Dylan Arnett chipped in 15 of his team’s 80 points.
Arnett also collected 12 rebounds for his third double-double of the season. Another top scorer was senior Chase Robinson, who had 12 points and three steals.
During the final three minutes of the game, junior Cris Carroll took charge of the team and brought Youngstown State back from a 15-point deficit.
In the final minutes, the ’Guins were down by one point, before Cleveland State scored another 10 points, and marked the team’s eighth-straight win.
Despite the loss, Youngstown State had three players who scored in double digits. Sophomore Jason Nelson had 10 points and four assists. Fifth-year senior Ty Harper ended his day with 16 points and eight rebounds.
The ’Guins highest scorer was Carroll, who went 75% from the three to go along with 18 points, two rebounds and one assist.
Carroll said if it wasn’t for the full 40 minutes, the outcome would have been different.
“We had good ball pressure from most of the game, but we didn’t have it for 40 minutes. If we had it for 40 minutes, it definitely would have been a different outcome,” Carroll said.
In the matchup, the ’Guins went 22 of 55 from the field and 13 of 31 beyond the arc. On the season, Youngstown State falls to 11-6 overall and 6-2 in conference play.
Youngstown State will hit the road against the University of Wisconsin–Milwakuee at 8 p.m. Jan. 17, inside UWM Panther Arena. The game will be broadcasted on ESPN+ and 570 WKBN.
