Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Youngstown State guard Brandon Rush hoists a 3-pointer during the Penguins’ victory over Ohio Christian on Monday at the Beeghly Center.

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State’s Brandon Rush knows what it’s like to get hot from beyond the three-point line.

The fifth-year guard has hit seven three-pointers in a game three times in his career, but on Monday night, he reached new heights — hitting 10 shots from beyond the arc in the Penguins’ 99-71 victory over Ohio Christian for the team’s first win of the season.

Despite falling just short of the program record of 11 threes in a game, Rush became just the second player in team history to hit at least 10 threes in a game (Mike Alcorn, 1992). At the same time, he also hit the milestone of 200 made three-pointers in his career.

“Gabe (Dynes) came to me in the middle of the game, and he was like, ‘you only need three more to make it.’ I was like, ‘three more of what? What are you talking about?'” Rush said. “I was just worried about trying to get my own record because I’ve always only made seven. So I wanted to at least make a couple more than seven. But honestly, I didn’t know (about the record).”

Towards the end of the game, with Rush sitting on 10 threes, YSU started trying to find ways to get him open looks so he could try for the record once they knew how close he was.

“So (Sports Information Director) Trevor Parks said he was 10-for-13 and needed one more three to tie it and two to break it, and I opened my mouth and I think I jinxed him,” head coach Jerrod Calhoun said. “I told the guys in the huddle, ‘Listen, I’m not taking Rush out. He needs one more shot to tie this thing.'”

The Trailblazers weren’t having it though, and started face guarding Rush to prevent him from getting shots off, even double-teaming him at times.

However, Rush still got some decent looks at it, but couldn’t quite get No. 11 to drop.

“I gotta give the kid a chance. He’s done a lot for our program,” Calhoun said. “I told (OCU’s) coach, under normal circumstances I would have taken him out. But I want these kids to go for it and try to get into the record book. But it was great to see him smile and great to see him get the ball in the basket. He needs to be a big part of what we’re going to do, but I think I jinxed him. I wish I wouldn’t have talked about it.”

Early on in the first half, Rush hit his first three of the night. Then, he hit his second and his third. He tried a heat check shot, but it bounced off the rim.

Still, by halftime, Rush already had five threes. He then repeated that performance in the second half and was 10-for-18 from beyond the arc to finish with 32 points.

As a team, the Penguins finished 14-for-33 (42.4 percent) from deep on the night.

“Our team, we’ve been struggling shooting from the three-point arc,” Rush said. “So us having a game like this, to come out and come home and actually get rhythm shots, I think it was really good for us.”

The victory was a good “get-right” opportunity for YSU, which was coming off two tough losses on the road to tournament-caliber teams Louisiana and Michigan last week.

The Penguins (1-2) got their offense going and scored 99 points, shooting 55.2 percent from the floor in the process. In addition to Rush, DJ Burns scored in double figures with 17 points, while Imanuel Zorgvol also hit double digits with 11 points.

Eleven total players saw the floor for YSU, while 10 of them played at least 10 minutes. All 10 of those players got on the score sheet, all of which helps when you’re trying to break in and build chemistry with 12 new players on the roster.

“I think it’s important for confidence,” Calhoun said. “Life’s all about confidence. All of a sudden, you’re in a much better place when we’re confident, especially with sports. … I just want our guys to have confidence. I think you get confidence by playing and preparing, and you gotta prepare to win.

“We’ve gotta have a little bit more urgency in our practices. I thought we had that the last couple of days, but we’ve gotta have it every day. I tell those guys, I’m a grinder. Our teams grind and our teams get better. If you look at our record in January and February, our teams have always gotten better here and in most places I’ve been, so we’re just getting started with that.”

nmadhavan@tribtoday.com