By Marc Weems
With Youngstown State University (10-14, 4-7 Horizon League) coming off a good home win against Cleveland State University (6-16, 2-8 HL), YSU would look to build on that against Oakland University (17-7, 7-4 HL).
Oakland beat YSU 90-76 on 51 percent shooting. YSU only had 13 assists on 31 made shots while Oakland had 22 assists on 32 made shots.
“I’m very disappointed in our effort,” YSU head coach Jerry Slocum said. “This is the first game in a long time that I felt like we didn’t play with energy and passion. We just didn’t play with any juice.”
Early on, Oakland’s size and athleticism became too much for the Penguins to handle as Oakland scored 10 of their first 13 points in the paint. Oakland led YSU 13-7 with 14:45 left in the first half. YSU’s Francisco Santiago led all scorers with nine points.
At one point, Oakland lead YSU 26-16 with 7:54 left in the first half. Oakland’s Brad Brechting came in and gave the Golden Grizzlies six points in just four minutes of play to help Oakland build their lead.
“Oakland is a team that you have to be on your game for,” Slocum said. “We were not. I thought they played well but I don’t think that we played hard.”
YSU’s biggest first-half bright spot became Devin Haygood. He led the Penguins with 10 points and three rebounds.
YSU was able to keep pace for the remainder of the half with Haygood scoring 14 points of 6-of-6 shooting and Santiago had 13 points on 6-of-11 shooting including the buzzer-beating shot to end the half. Oakland lead YSU 42-37. Martez Walker led Oakland with 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
Any momentum YSU built in the first half quickly faded as Oakland started the half on a 6-0 run and was beating YSU 48-37 after a YSU timeout.
With 15:27 left in the game, Oakland led YSU 53-41. Oakland’s Jalen Hayes led Oakland with 13 points.
Just minutes later, Oakland’s lead ballooned to 18 points as YSU couldn’t match their intensity and scoring. YSU’s lone bright spot remained Haygood as he had 18 points off the bench to go with Santiago’s 18 points. Oakland led 71-53 with 11:07 left in the game.
After a small run by YSU, Oakland still led 75-60 with 7:39 left in the game. Isaiah Brock led Oakland with career-highs of 16 points and 18 rebounds.
“I think we played sub par,” Slocum said. “But Dev [Haygood] and Santiago did a good job tonight.”
Slocum also said that their rebounding effort wasn’t very good and that was the worst they’ve been out-rebounded all season.
“Dev [Devin Haygood] did a good job,” Slocum said. “He’s really grown and matured all year long into a really solid basketball player. I was proud of his effort.”
Slocum said that this loss was due to the increased amount of mental lapses.
Oakland defeated YSU 90-76. Jalen Hayes led the Golden Grizzlies with 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting. Oakland didn’t miss one free throw during the game as they went 18-of-18 from the free throw line.
Slocum also said that their rebounding effort wasn’t very good and that was the worst they’ve been out-rebounded all season.
YSU was out-rebounded by a margin of 45-26 and 12-9 on the offensive glass.
YSU will face the University of Detroit-Mercy in their next game on February 4 at 7pm in the Beeghley Center.
