Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes. YSU's David Wilkerson drives and scores during the second half against on Wednesday against Northern Kentucky. Wilkerson scored 12 points to lead the Penguins' bench unit.

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State has touted the balance and depth throughout its roster for most of the season.

With leading scorer EJ Farmer (14.4 ppg) out on Wednesday and “day-to-day” with a lower leg injury, the Penguins needed their depth to make up for Farmer’s absence.

YSU’s bench delivered and was pivotal as the Penguins rode a big first half to a 72-61 victory over Northern Kentucky.

“With EJ being out, that shortened our bench a little bit, but we still had nine guys that contributed at a high level,” head coach Ethan Faulkner said. “Can’t say enough about (redshirt sophomore guard) David Wilkerson and how he played tonight. When a guy goes out, it’s next man up. We had a lot of contributions from a lot of different people, but I particularly thought what he did for us, giving us that lift, was pretty special.”

For the second straight game, Wilkerson provided a spark for the Penguins off the bench. He finished with a season-high 12 points, which marked his second straight game scoring in double figures.

Wilkerson was part of a bench that outscored NKU’s 28-9, and gave YSU a scoring boost at the end of both the first and second halves.

After a sizzling start by both teams that included the Penguins and Norse combining to start 9-for-10 from the floor, that second unit helped spur a 10-0 first-half run that allowed YSU to take a 17-point lead into halftime.

“When that time comes, you gotta be prepared, and that’s exactly what they did,” junior guard Juwan Maxey said of the second unit. “In the second half, we started off slow, but they came through with that spark that we needed and it was up from there. So they played a huge role today.”

Along with Wilkerson’s 12 points, sophomore center Gabe Dynes and fifth-year guard Siem Uijtendaal each contributed off the bench.

Dynes had his first double-double of the season with 11 points and 15 rebounds to go with four blocks, while Uijtendaal added five points, three assists and five rebounds.

“We just played our normal team basketball,” Dynes said. “Their zone is really difficult to play against. For me, it’s really hustle points. It’s really what I have to get because as a five, my job is to occupy the middle guy. It’s really (about) hitting shots, and when we don’t hit shots, I gotta get it.”

Against the Norse’s matchup zone, the Penguins knew they had to take advantage from beyond the arc.

“If you study their defense and really look at their numbers, if there’s a weakness to their zone, it’s the way they defend the three,” Faulkner said. “They’re just so aggressive protecting the paint, swarming to the ball. It’s really a nightmare to play against. You go into this game, and you try to give the guys the answers to the test in terms of the matchup zone, if you will, but then they just counter you with something different.”

So not only did YSU’s bench pick up the scoring slack in Farmer’s absence, but starters Maxey and fifth-year guard Ty Harper did as well.

In the first half, Maxey and Harper each scored 11 points, which included hitting three 3-pointers. Maxey finished with a team-high 19 points to go with 14 points from Harper.

The duo combined to hit nine of the Penguins’ 13 3-pointers.

“When it’s a zone game, you know you gotta hit shots,” Maxey said. “That’s one thing that our coach preaches. If we see a zone, we feel like we’re a good team that can shoot. So when it’s a zone, we gotta knock down open shots and that’s what we did.”

The Penguins’ win sets up a showdown for first-place atop the Horizon League against Cleveland State on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Beeghly Center.

After Milwaukee lost to Purdue Fort Wayne and the Vikings beat Robert Morris on Wednesday, Cleveland State and YSU are the only one-loss teams remaining in the conference standings.

“Being able to handle pressure against Cleveland State is going to be critical for us on Saturday,” Faulkner said. “We gotta continue to work on that. Gotta do a better job as a coach and put us in more and more of those situations in practice because all these teams are so good, all these games are going down to the wire, so we’re going to have to be able to handle that pressure.”