Youngstown State drills Green Bay on Senior Day, 95-65
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YOUNGSTOWN -- After a sloppy first half, particularly on defense, Youngstown State asserted its dominance.
The Penguins outscored visiting Green Bay by 23 in the second half to pull away for a dominant 95-65 Senior Day victory after leading 46-39 at halftime Saturday afternoon at the Beeghly Center.
The win completed a sweep of the Phoenix (3-26, 2-16 Horizon League), and gave YSU (22-7, 14-4 Horizon League) a regular season home record of 13-2 overall and 9-1 in league play.
The Penguins' magic number to clinch the Horizon League regular season crown is now at 2.
"I thought Green Bay did a great job early in the game of really being aggressive, really playing hard," YSU coach Jerrod Calhoun said. "But it was just our seniors' night. We have six seniors on this roster -- I can't thank them enough -- and I think it's arguably one of the best classes the school has ever had."
Fittingly enough, it was the seniors that led the way Saturday.
Malek Green racked up 17 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals, while Bryce McBride tallied 17 points, six assists and a pair of takeaways. Dwayne Cohill scored 13 points and dished eight assists, while Adrian Nelson had 14 points and nine rebounds. Finally, Garrett Covington had seven points, four assists and three boards for the Penguins.
Junior Brandon Rush chipped in 15 points.
"It really started with Garrett six years ago, coming in with that initial class with Naz (Bohannon) and Mike (Akuchie) and several others to kind of lay the foundation," Calhoun said. "And then Chris (Shelton) and Dwayne came last year, and obviously those two kids have been unbelievable. And then you get Bryce and (Nelson) and Malek, what a special group."
For much of the first half, however, Green Bay was out to play spoiler. The Phoenix led by as many as six -- 21-15 at the 10:46 mark of the first half -- and had a 39-37 advantage with 3:14 to go before intermission.
The Phoenix were paced by 14 points from Cade Meyer, while Ryan Wade added 13 points, Randy Tucker had 11 points and Davin Zeigler had 10 points.
But YSU ended the half on a 9-0 run, and had extended that into a 20-2 run by the 16:20 mark of the second half, at which the Penguins led 57-41.
The key difference was in YSU's defensive effort. Green Bay shot 12-for-28 in the first half and 7-for-16 from 3-point range, but was just 10-for-32 after the intermission and 3-for-15 from deep in the second half.
Then, too, the Penguins went into a pressure defense, at times a full-court press, others just in the halfcourt, which Calhoun says managed to wear the Phoenix down as the game progressed. In all, Green Bay coughed up 16 turnovers.
"I get antsy in certain games, and this was one of them. It helped us that first time we played them, (but) I didn't know when to do it. I think it wore them down a little bit and helped us win," Calhoun said.
The Penguin offense, meanwhile, was sharp from start to finish. YSU shot 53 percent overall (35-of-66) and sank 10 of its 27 shots from 3-point range. YSU racked up 25 assists to just seven turnovers, and also outscored its visitors 48-20 in the paint.
"We've really just been sharing the ball," Green said. "They were playing a little zone, so you really had to share the ball. We were running, we were throwing lobs. I think everybody has just been sharing the ball very well."
The Penguins conclude the regular season next week with a Tuesday trip to Robert Morris and then a visit to IUPUI on Saturday. Winning both would clinch the regular season Horizon League crown, as would one win and a loss by each of Northern Kentucky, Cleveland State and Milwaukee.
YSU already has clinched a top four seed, which brings a home quarterfinal game in the Horizon League Tournament.
"I told our guys that we can look at those standings all we want, but all we really need to look at and worry about is what we're doing," Calhoun said. "That's really what we've tried to concentrate on. It's two for a ring. You win two games this week, you'll be in the history books. ... You'll change the trajectory of the program."
jwhetzel@tribtoday.com