Youngstown State’s two biggest wins in Horizon League play this season have now come on the road after the Penguins knocked off Oakland 86-82 on Thursday night in Rochester, Mich.

The Penguins (13-13, 6-9 Horizon) have now won four of their last six games since sustaining a seven-game losing streak in conference play from December into January.

“I thought the consistency that we played with is something we’ve really been searching for,” head coach Ethan Faulkner said in a postgame interview on ESPN+. “We’ve got a ton of respect for Coach (Greg) Kampe and the program they got here. Really hard place to win. I thought we did a lot of really good stuff on both sides of the ball.”

The offense was humming all night for YSU, which finished with 23 assists on 28 made field goals that included 12 3-pointers. The Penguins were also a perfect 18-for-18 from the charity stripe.

The Penguins were powered by a season-best performance by Cam Polak, who made seven 3-pointers to score 26 points.

Bryson Dawkins was efficient with 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting, while Cris Carroll added 19 points.

Oakland (14-12, 10-5 Horizon) matched YSU for most of the night, as neither team was able to create much separation. The Penguins’ largest lead was eight, while the Grizzlies led by six at one point.

Oakland relied on its post presence in the paint for the bulk of its offense, getting 21 points from Michael Houge to go with 15 points from Buru Naivalurua.

The Penguins led 44-39 at halftime thanks to Polak’s four first-half 3-pointers.

The win puts YSU in a tie for eighth in the tight Horizon League standings with Cleveland State. The Penguins are 2.5 games out of a top-four spot.

“We keep fighting, we’re going to keep fighting,” Faulkner said. “Obviously we’ve had some ups and downs this year. But our best is plenty good enough. We’ve proven that time and time again. We’ve got to sustain our best for longer periods of time.”