Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes. YSU freshman Jaiden Haynes shoots and scores a second-half 3-pointer on Monday night at Zidian Family Arena. He scored 14 points in the Penguins' win over Penn State-Shenango.

YOUNGSTOWN — Coming off the high of its road win at Grand Canyon on Friday, Youngstown State returned to the friendly confines of Zidian Family Arena for its home opener on Monday night.

Despite a tight margin at halftime, the Penguins fought off a cold shooting start and pulled away from Penn State-Shenango in the second half for a 115-53 win over the Lions.

“Gotta give Penn State-Shenango a lot of credit with how that first half went,” head coach Ethan Faulkner said. “We did not have our team ready to go in the first 20 minutes. I was really disappointed in our effort and our mindset and our attention to detail. Obviously got some things corrected at halftime, played with a little bit better energy and effort, and the game played out from there. But we’ve gotta be much better to start the game.”

After arriving back in Youngstown from Phoenix just over 48 hours ago, the Penguins looked like they were still hungover from Friday’s win during the first half against the Lions.

Just over seven minutes in, YSU trailed 17-14 after starting 0-for-10 from beyond the 3-point arc.

Faulkner called timeout after Jordan Dotson knocked down a three to put the Lions ahead. Coming out of the huddle, Cam Polak knocked down the Penguins’ first three of the night, and that sparked a 14-2 run.

“Just no effort. I thought we looked totally disinterested in playing the game,” Faulkner said. “Part of being a good basketball team and being a championship-level program, you have to handle success well. The Grand Canyon game was over about 72 hours ago, and if we’re going to have hangovers after every win, then we’re not going to be a very good basketball team.

“We have to have championship DNA. We’ve got to respect our opponent. We’ve gotta be ready to go as soon as the ball goes in the air, regardless of who we’re playing. That’s on me, and we’ll get that corrected.”

The Lions continued to hang around in the first half, as YSU took a 43-34 lead at halftime. Kevon Washington scored 14 of his team-high 16 points for PSU-Shenango in the first half to help keep the Penguins at arm’s length.

After a discussion at halftime, YSU scored the first 15 points of the second half, and the Penguins were off to the races, as they outscored the Lions 72-19 after the intermission. Bryson Dawkins scored eight of his 11 points during that stretch.

YSU shot 34.2% overall from the floor in the first half, but then turned it around after halftime by shooting 65.8%.

“Even before coach came in, we kind of knew what he was going to say,” freshman Jaiden Haynes said. “We felt it in ourselves, knowing that we weren’t giving our best effort with just the simple things — playing hard, hitting the open man and just driving it to the rim. They weren’t the tallest team, so we knew we could get to the rim whenever we wanted. I feel like our guys picked up on that and made the right adjustments.”

All 12 players that dressed for the game played at least eight minutes and they all scored.

Imanuel Zorgvol led the Penguins with 18 points, as seven players scored in double figures. The 7-footer utilized his size against the smaller Lions lineup and finished 7-for-8 from the floor.

Haynes and Polak each added 14 points apiece, as Haynes scored the first points of his college basketball career.

“Everything felt good. I always say it’s a blessing,” Haynes said. “Ever since I was a kid, I always thought about being here, no matter if I scored 20 points, no matter if I scored none. I always thought about playing Division I basketball and being where I could play in front of other little kids, showing them that it’s possible.”

Haynes played a couple minutes in the win over Grand Canyon, but missed the opener against Pitt and the Akron exhibition with an injury. He knocked down four 3-pointers in 20 minutes of action on Monday.

“Jaiden’s a good player. He’s going to be a big part of what we do,” Faulkner said. “The Grand Canyon game, he hadn’t practiced. He literally got cleared the morning of the Grand Canyon game, so we tried to throw him into the fire. The rust was obviously there, but was really glad to get him some considerable minutes. I thought he played well. He can really play on both sides of the ball.”

Cris Carroll and Tae Blackshear each finished with 12 points and Jason Nelson added 10.

YSU heads back out on the road this week, as they face St. Bonaventure on Saturday at 4 p.m.