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YSU men set for busy weekend

Will play 3 teams in 3 days at home

Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes YSU junior Dwayne Cohill (right) tips the ball out of the hands of Penn State’s Jalen Pickett during their matchup in the season opener.

YOUNGSTOWN — Three days, three games and one-third of the 2021-22 non-conference slate.

It’s going to be a busy weekend in the Beeghly Center, as the Youngstown State men’s basketball team hosts a multi team event tonight through Sunday evening. The Penguins begin tonight at 5 p.m. with St. Thomas (MN), then face SIU-Edwardsville at 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon before rounding out the weekend Sunday with a 3:45 p.m. game against Niagara.

“I think it’s going to be good. You’re going to see three teams that all play a different style, and it’s exciting for the coaches and the players,” YSU head coach Jerrod Calhoun said. “It’s a lot of planning, but it’s been good.”

With limited opportunities in non-conference play now — the Penguins will begin Horizon League competition after this weekend — Calhoun also says YSU needs to capitalize on the opportunity to continue growing and improving.

Still, he says, YSU isn’t overlooking anybody, either.

“We’re playing three really good teams … and it’s kind of a gear-up toward conference play, but these are some important games for us as a group,” he said.

St. Thomas is 1-2 on the year, with a win over St. Francis College and losses to Fordham and Chicago State. Tonight’s matchup will be the first between UST and YSU.

The Tommies formerly competed at the Division III level before their conference, the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, ejected them for being too dominant. UST was then granted a waiver from the NCAA to make an immediate jump to D1 instead of the usual years-long process that involves a period of time in D2. They now compete in the Summit League.

Senior guard Anders Nelson leads the Tommies in scoring at 24 points per game, while fellow guard Riley Miller scores just under 17 points per game while forward Parker Bjorklund is scoring 15 points and grabbing eight rebounds per tilt.

As a team, UST is averaging just over 80 points per game, though it’s been outrebounded by a margin of 5.4 per game.

SIUE, a member of the Ohio Valley Conference, also enters this weekend at 1-2, and will face Niagara following YSU’s matchup with UST. The Cougars dropped their first two contests to Marquette and Chicago State before defeating Division III Knox on Monday.

The Cougars score 69.3 points per game and have a +7 margin in rebounding so far. Ray’Sean Taylor leads the team with 17.7 points per game, while Shaun Doss Jr. (13 ppg.) and DeeJuan Pruitt (10 ppg.) also average in double figures. Doss Jr. also grabs eight rebounds per game.

The Penguins and Cougars haven’t met on the hardwood since 1975, when YSU picked up a 79-62 win at the Beeghly Center.

Sunday’s opponent, Niagara, is a bit more familiar.

The Penguins and Purple Eagles have met 14 times, and the series is split evenly at seven apiece. Niagara last played at YSU in 2016, a 101-97 overtime win for YSU.

Niagara is 0-2, though their losses have come on the road against Xavier and Ohio State, and neither game was a blowout. The Musketeers topped NU 63-60, and Niagara fell in Columbus, 84-74.

Marcus Hammond and Jordan Cintron lead Niagara in scoring at 23.5 and 12.5 points per game. Each of them averages six rebounds per game, as well. Sam Iorio scores 10 points per game to help bolster the other two.

YSU, meanwhile, is 1-1 and coming off an impressive 97-79 victory over Southeast Missouri in which the Penguins trailed 39-37 at half before outscoring the Redhawks 60-40 in the second half. Tevin Olison put up an impressive 27 points, while YSU’s other four starters — Michael Akuchie, Dwayne Cohill, Shemar Rathan-Mayes and Garrett Covington — each scored in double figures as well. Covington scored 18 points and secured 10 rebounds to pick up a double-double.

Off the bench, freshman Luke Chicone scored seven points and grabbed four boards.

Of YSU’s second half, and specifically the final 12 minutes of the game, Calhoun said, “That was probably as good as 12 minutes as we’ve had in my five years here. Getting stops led to great offensive transition. The ball moves with this team; we really passed the ball, and it’s a fun style to play.”

He added, “If Tevin and Duane are really good, we’re as good as anybody in this league. They were great on Saturday.”

Akuchie said the Penguins handled the ups and downs of the win better than they did the ups and downs of the season-opening loss at Penn State, and that the Penguins “stayed together.”

And now, they’re eager to return to fans at the Beeghly Center.

“I think it’ll be amazing just to see people out again, just to hear people scream, hear people yell and see people lose their minds,” Akuchie said. “… I think it’ll make a big difference. We love it when we’re on a scoring run and people are cheering. I love to hear when I dunk and I hear everybody start screaming. I missed that. I can’t wait to hear that, so I’m excited and I hope everybody else is excited.”

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