Correspondent photo / David Dermer. YSU forward Cris Carroll attempts a 3-point jumper, as head coach Ethan Faulkner (right) looks on during the Penguins' win over Bryant & Stratton on Friday morning at the Beeghly Center.

YOUNGSTOWN — For Youngstown State, the difference between wins and losses this season has been small, with four of the Penguins’ five losses in Horizon League play coming by five or fewer points.

Games have come down to just a few plays, as was the case in losses to Robert Morris, Oakland and Purdue Fort Wayne and even in the win over Wright State.

That gives YSU some reason for optimism that it can still turn things around over the final 13 games of the regular season.

“I think there is almost no difference between every team in our league,” head coach Ethan Faulkner said. “I think that’s what makes it very challenging, because we’re all the same. But that also gives us hope, if we correct some of the issues that we’ve been having, that we’ll have a chance to start stringing some wins again. I think our league is very good this year, but I think the balance of our league is incredible.”

In need of a win in light of its recent struggles, YSU bounced back with a wire-to-wire 99-61 victory over Bryant & Stratton (Ohio) in a School Day Kids game on Friday morning at Zidian Family Arena.

The Penguins had four players score in double figures, as Bryson Dawkins led YSU with a season-high 21 points. Cris Carroll also had 18 points, while Rich Rolf and Tae Blackshear each had 15 and Vlad Salaridze pulled down a season-high 13 rebounds.

“It was good to get a win, get some positivity back with our team, which we needed desperately,” Faulkner said. “Good to get a bunch of guys in the game and have the opportunity to let some guys play through some mistakes that we can get on film and try to continue to learn from.”

It was the first game against a Division I opponent in program history for the Bobcats (10-7, 5-2), which are a member of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA), a separate entity from the NCAA.

“I feel like this game was placed in the perfect spot,” Dawkins said. “We came in off a bad stretch of losses and heartbreak losses and stuff like that. So to finally just see a ‘W’ in the win column, that’s just motivation.”

YSU (9-9, 2-5 Horizon) entered Friday with a goal of maintaining “effort and concentration for 40 minutes,” according to Faulkner, in an effort to work through and clean up some of the issues that have plagued the team in recent games.

For the most part, the Penguins achieved that goal. YSU led 51-25 at halftime and grew its lead to as much as 38.

But Bryant & Stratton proved its mettle by matching the Penguins shot-for-shot at times, even at times going on occasional brief scoring runs, particularly in the second half.

“I thought we lost our focus the last eight minutes of the game,” Faulkner said. “Obviously when you have a lead like that, human nature tells you the game’s over, the possessions are no longer important. We’ve got to stomp that out with our team, and I’m not talking about physically stomping it out, but we’ve got to get rid of any mentality that says every possession is not important. That’s the goal for our team. If we do that, and if we can continue to make progress in that area, our team will continue to get better.”

That closing stretch against the Bobcats provided an inconsequential example of one of the overarching issues that has plagued the team throughout the season.

Turnovers and lack of defensive rebounding, particularly in key moments have been a recurring theme. But mental breakdowns in certain stretches have hurt just as much.

“Our effort is not necessarily the issue right now,” Faulkner said. “Our ability to concentrate and engage on every single possession, whether that’s offensively or defensively, and not have mental breakdowns is where we’ve got to make some improvements.

“That’s a holistic view, right? If we’ve got 20-30 minutes, we can sit here and talk about all the details of what that means, but it boils down to our ability to concentrate and be mentally engaged every bounce of the ball, every possession of the game, every time a shot goes up and every time we’re executing an offensive action.”

The Penguins now have six days to reflect on their recent stretch, as they continue to work through their issues.

“I feel like we’re on the right path,” Dawkins said. “Just starting off with this win, just everybody playing connected and just seeing everybody come by here and enjoy playing with each other again. I feel like it’s been kind of stressful, people kind of frustrated with each other and stuff like that. But just getting this win and getting back all in the same boat, feels like that brings us together and we’ll be ready for conference play.”

Jason Nelson, Tyler Robinett and Jaiden Haynes all sat out against Bryant & Stratton, but Faulkner said he expects each of them to be ready to go when YSU begins a two-game road trip on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Wright State, before making its way back across Ohio and up to Cleveland State on Jan. 17 at 2 p.m.

“We got a chance here, over the next six days, to really dig in and get some good practice time in to try to make some progress and improvements with our team before we head to Wright State to play another very challenging league game,” Faulkner said.