Staff photo / Neel Madhavan Former Youngstown State star guard Kendrick Perry handles the ball while being guarded by redshirt junior forward Rich Rolf during the Penguins’ alumni scrimmage against its current squad on Wednesday at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center in Youngstown.

YOUNGSTOWN — For as long as Youngstown State has been a Division I program, perhaps no player has compiled a more decorated, accomplished professional playing career than Kendrick Perry.

When he left YSU in 2014, Perry was already one of the best players in program history. He earned All-Horizon League First Team honors in three of his four seasons with the Penguins and finished his career as YSU’s third all-time leading scorer and leading all-time Division I scorer. He was inducted into the YSU Athletics Hall of Fame last year.

But since then, Perry has managed to cultivate a professional career that has spanned more than 10 years.

“I think at the foundation is the love of the game,” Perry said of his long-tenured career. “Whether I’m having a good year, whether I’m having a bad year, I think the love of the game is something that always brings me back to a safe space to where mentally, I can overcome the challenges of a season. It’s about discipline, it’s about enjoying the game and just trying to embrace every opportunity because a lot of people aren’t fortunate enough to do it for such a long time.”

In that time, he’s won individual accolades and team championships across Europe in countries like Hungary, Slovenia, Macedonia, Greece and most recently, Spain, where he’s coming off a second straight FIBA Champions League trophy with Unicaja Malaga this past season.

“To go up against some of the most competitive guys in the world and come out on top is definitely a good feeling,” Perry said.

“My experience in Malaga has been great. Since the first year two years ago, I understood that we were building something special. Good things take time. It’s been a process. It’s been a journey trying to learn to play with certain teammates year-in and year-out. But we got a really good group of guys that make my job as a basketball player easy and make my job fun. So I’m just trying to enjoy it and give the most that I can.”

On Wednesday, Perry returned to YSU, setting foot once again on the Rosselli Court floor that he dominated over a decade ago.

He and a handful of other former Penguins stars that have also gone on to professional careers, including Naz Bohannon, Dwayne Cohill, EJ Farmer, Bryson Langdon, Brandon Rush, Tevin Olison and Adrian Nelson, returned to scrimmage against the current crop of YSU players.

“(Perry) is playing about the highest level of non-NBA basketball you can be playing, and he’s having tons and tons of success,” Penguins coach Ethan Faulkner said.

Since leaving Youngstown in 2021, Bohannon has played the last three years in Germany with two teams and just recently signed for a third different German team for the upcoming season.

“It’s kind of a dream come true,” Bohannon said. “There’s times before games where they’re calling out the other team and I just take a spin around the gym and look like, ‘Wow, this kid from a small city in Ohio that’s just like Youngstown, you’re here and actually doing what you dreamed of doing.’

“Once you get past the culture shock and you’re open-minded, you’re able to just experience the culture, the different language, the food, everything. For me, the exposure and all of that just opens me up to so many different avenues in the world. And I’m a nerd at heart, so I love every bit of it.”

Langdon spent some time last year playing in Benin, a country in West Africa, while Olison has played in the United Kingdom and Finland and Nelson most recently played in France.

Meanwhile, Rush and Cohill both played in Slovakia this past season — Rush with BK Komarno and Cohill with Spisski Rytieri. With both clubs playing in the same league, Rush and Cohill faced off against one another on four occasions throughout the season, splitting the meetings.

Cohill played his first season in Italy two years ago, but it was cut short by an injury. However, he bounced back this past season in Slovakia. Now, he’s back on the market trying to find his next destination.

“It’s different — if you’re not used to changing your environment or the people that you’re around, it might be harder,” Cohill said of playing in multiple countries. “I’ve not been home for a long time now since I was in college, so it’s not much of a culture change for me, being by myself. Different culture, different food, different languages, there’s things you have to adjust to and learn, but the people are usually nice. They treat you with respect and make you feel at home.”

After a year in Slovakia, Rush will continue his career in Budapest in Hungary.

“It’s a blessing just to see where a little round ball can take you,” Rush said.

The list of former Penguins playing overseas isn’t just limited to those that were back in town this week, however.

Cohill and Rush’s former teammates from the Horizon League championship team, Malek Green and Bryce McBride have played in Croatia, Luxembourg, Lithuania and New Zealand.

From the 2023-24 team, DJ Burns, Ziggy Reid and Brett Thompson have each also found playing opportunities in Europe.

Then from this past year’s squad, Nico Galette just signed with Hestia Menorca in Spain earlier this month, while Farmer is also working with his agent to pursue an international contract.