Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Youngstown State's Myles Hunter goes up for a jump shot during the Penguins' 73-63 victory over Detroit Mercy on Sunday.

YOUNGSTOWN — There were concerns of a letdown, Jerrod Calhoun admits.

After all, his Youngstown State team was coming off a nationally televised game late Friday night that, while exciting, surely was draining both emotionally and physically.

And for the first half Sunday against Detroit Mercy, his fears were playing out in front of him, as the Penguins couldn’t generate any momentum and went into halftime down eight.

After that intermission, however, the Penguins roared back for a 73-63 victory over the Titans in front of 4,187 fans at the Beeghly Center.

“You have to give Detroit a lot of credit; they came in and played a great first half,” Calhoun said. “But our guys persevered. I thought that was a toughness win.”

Youngstown State (17-6, 9-3 Horizon League) couldn’t have played much worse in the first half. The Penguins shot just 9-for-30, were out-rebounded 24-12 and couldn’t manage to stop the Titans (8-15, 4-8 Horizon League), who shot 14-for-29 in the same span to take a 33-25 lead into the break.

As if a switch was flipped, though, YSU answered by shooting 18-for-30 in the second stanza, including a 7-for-10 mark from 3-point range, and winning the rebounding battle 18-15.

“We said at halftime that we have to be tougher,” Calhoun said. “They were up 12 on the glass, (and) we had 25 points. We probably missed five or six layups in transition and around the basket and that’s not like our guys. So they just stayed the course and made plays, and I thought the difference was we went to the press. … They took some quick shots, and we were able to get out and run and get some easy ones.”

Indeed, YSU went into a full-court defense that didn’t force any turnovers in the backcourt, but did speed the Titans up. It also seemed to give YSU a sense of urgency and energy that it sorely lacked before halftime.

After the break, UDM was held to the same field goal percentage YSU had in the first half — 9-for-30 (30 percent) and never got into a full rhythm again. Standout guard Antoine Davis — the NCAA’s all-time 3-point leader — was kept to a 5-of-18 day overall and a paltry 2-for-12 behind the arc.

He had 15 points, while Damezi Anderson had 14 to pace the Titans.

Davis’ off day can largely be credited to YSU’s Myles Hunter, who spent much of the game pestering Davis with tight defense. The Penguins also opted to double-team Davis off of high ball screens, forcing the ball out of his hands, and then made it difficult to get the ball back to him.

“(Davis) sees it every night, he just gets chased all over the gym from the time he gets off the bus,” Calhoun said. “He’s an elite player, something that we haven’t seen in this league in a long time. So we just wanted to chase him off the (3-point) line. Our whole goal was to let him drive the ball to the basket, because twos aren’t going to beat us. We wanted to have late contests at the rim, and (Adrian Nelson) did a great job of jump walling, and Will Dunn did a great job of jump walling and fanning out to shooters. (Davis) is such a talent, that’s how you have to play him.”

That trio of Dunn, Hunter and Nelson played a lion’s share of minutes during the second half, as Calhoun opted for a lineup with a little more length against Detroit Mercy’s 1-3-1-type zone. Hunter scored six critical points and dished three assists, while Dunn had three rebounds and an assist.

Nelson was one of three Penguins in double figures, notching a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Bryce McBride (14 points) and Dwayne Cohill (20 points) were the other two.

“It was on my mind all last night. These are difficult games against Oakland and Detroit — they have a weird zone,” Calhoun said. “So if you haven’t played against it, it can be difficult. (Hunter) is a great zone player, definitely one of the best guys on my team, one of the better guys I’ve seen. He can find the open areas, and not only did he do that, I thought he did an unbelievable job on Antoine.”

Of Nelson’s 18 points, 15 came in the second half. Cohill scored 17 in the second half, and YSU attacked much better as an offense.

Nelson put the game away for good with back-to-back corner triples, the latter of which coming at the 4:46 mark that put YSU up 65-49. Those capped an 11-0 run for YSU. The Titans got no closer than nine points the rest of the way.

“I think it was our ball movement,” Hunter said. “We knew how to move around the zone, in and out … and then get into that middle and look opposite (corner) or play one-on-one from there. I think getting to the middle helped us a lot.”

Nelson added, “We knew we came out a little sluggish in the beginning, but we came together in the second half, and we got it done when it really mattered.”

The Penguins have another pair of critical home games this week, as they host Wright State on Thursday and Northern Kentucky on Saturday.

jwhetzel@tribtoday.com