Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes. YSU forward Nico Galette drives and finishes between two Robert Morris defenders on Wednesday night at the UPMC Events Center in Moon Township, Pa.

MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — It took Youngstown State a few minutes to find its scoring touch, but once it did, the Penguins were off to the races.

Behind a balanced scoring effort and their defense, the Penguins opened Horizon League conference play on Tuesday with a 72-58 road victory over Robert Morris at the UPMC Events Center.

“It started with our defense — we were really able to string together consecutive stops. But I thought what we did a great job of was being opportunistic in transition, not forcing the issue,” head coach Ethan Faulkner said. “Then when we had to settle into the half court, I thought we executed at a high level. Got some easy baskets, got some great looks. Our offense is going to continue to get better.

“We’re still a work in progress in some areas, but we’re definitely making improvements. … I’m proud of our team. I thought we really competed on both ends of the floor.”

The first few minutes of the first half were rough sledding for the Penguins, who were coming off their best offensive showing of the season this past Saturday against Bethany.

YSU didn’t score its first point until the 16:18 mark on an EJ Farmer free throw, and after eight minutes, had only scored five points.

But after trailing 9-5, the Penguins rattled off an 18-4 run that included 11 straight points. YSU maintained a double-digit advantage the rest of the evening.

After settling for jumpers early, the Penguins started to find their rhythm offensively when they began attacking the basket. Forty of YSU’s points came in the paint.

“Watching film, they don’t really help,” redshirt junior guard Jason Nelson said. “So we practiced off screen, blowing by and getting easy layups. Then that opened up other things, so that was a big point of emphasis.”

Four players scored in double figures for YSU, led by Juwan Maxey, who scored 16 points, a new career high, that included five made three-pointers.

In his second game back from injury after missing two games, Nelson added 13 points for the Penguins, while Nico Galette had 12 points and EJ Farmer scored 10.

YSU showed its balance offensively once again, as each of the nine players that checked into the game got on the scoresheet with at least one field goal.

“Obviously our motto is, whoever is hot or whoever is feeling it, feed them,” Maxey said. “But if we got somebody that can’t guard or somebody got a (good) matchup, we’re going to attack them and then they’re going to help open things up on the floor.”

The offense stemmed from the defense for YSU, which has been this team’s calling card so far this season even when the shots haven’t been falling.

The Penguins held the Colonials to their lowest scoring output of the season, while limiting them to 34.5% shooting. RMU was just 3-for-23 from beyond the arc.

“I think we were very disruptive. Forced 17 turnovers, really executed our defensive principles and kept them out of rhythm offensively,” Faulkner said. “That’s gotta be our MO. Even as we’re making improvements offensively, I still think we have the potential to be a better defensive team than offensive team. That’s what we’re going to hang our hat on. It’s going to allow us to play our brand of basketball and get out in transition, which is what we want to do.”

YSU had a brief scare over the final few minutes. After the Penguins had ballooned their lead to its largest of the game (22 points), the Colonials were able to claw away at the deficit behind their press.

After trailing by 22 with 5:27 left, RMU had cut YSU’s lead all the way down to 10 with 2:32 to go.

“I was really pressing the brakes on our guys because I felt like we were getting great stuff in the half court,” Faulkner said. “With a big lead, we were able to run some clock and still get some real quality looks, and probably got our guys tentative. It’s probably my fault. Against the pressure, you gotta be aggressive, and I think that probably spilled over.”

The Penguins steadied themselves and were able to force a few turnovers and stops down the stretch to stop the bleeding over the final two minutes, closing things out with eight straight points.

“We know we just had to take care of the ball, play our game,” Nelson said. “We got a little sloppy. So called timeout, came over, talked about it, talked about what we needed to do to fix it. Then came out after that and just executed.”

YSU returns home to the Beeghly Center on Saturday to host defending conference champion Oakland. Tip off at 2 p.m. at the Zidian Family Arena.