Their 72-70 victory over Purdue Fort Wayne on Saturday at the Beeghly Center completed a weekend sweep of the Mastodons and thrusts YSU into the middle of the chase for a top-four seeding in the Horizon League Tournament.

With YSU leading 69-68 and 32.5 seconds remaining and a 2.5-second differential on the shot clock, Purdue Fort Wayne took the ball downcourt. With 14.4 seconds left, Mastodons star Jarred Godfrey drove toward the right of the lane and pulled up for a fadeaway in the face of YSU senior Garrett Covington. Godfrey left the shot off the back of the rim and into the arms of Michael Akuchie.

Moments later, YSU junior Darius Quisenberry went to the charity stripe for a one-and-one after being intentionally fouled. The first shot was good, the second shot hit nothing but net and YSU led 71-68.

PFW (6-13, 5-13), one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the nation at 39.8 percent, was a threat to knot everything up with 6.9 seconds left following a Mastodons timeout. But YSU fouled to deny its opponent an opportunity to tie. Jalon Pipkins hit both shots to make the score 71-70.

Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes -- YSU senior Naz Bohannon (left) passes to a teammate, he had a team-high five assists along with a game-high 22 points in the win.

Freshman Shemar Rathan-Mayes then found himself at the line where he missed the front end of a one-and-one, but after a group of players batted the ball around, it was Quisenberry who scooped up the rock and wisely took as much time off the clock as he could before being fouled.

He sank the first and tactically missed the second to force Pipkins and the Mastodons to go the length of the floor with 1.2 seconds left on the clock inside the Beeghly Center.

The buzzer sounded before Pipkins could throw a Hail Mary the length of the floor, leading to a sigh of relief and smiles from YSU.

It came on a night when the Penguins were cold from the floor at 38.7 percent after shooting 45.5 Friday evening in an 84-70 win.

YSU coach Jerrod Calhoun said he thought that rebounding and timely plays played a huge factor, along with game experience.

Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes -- YSU freshman Shemar Rathan-Mayes shoots a three-pointer during the first half, he scored 15 points. 

“Just a wild ballgame, it’s just conference play, every game is a different adventure,” he said. “I thought Fort Wayne played tremendous basketball tonight, they were inspired. I thought Godfrey was good again.

“But the reality of it is, we’ve been in so many of these games, you get experience in the close ones in game situations, not really in a practice situation, so really, really proud of the guys.”

Saturday evening’s win also comes at a time when YSU is starting to put together the pieces after having a banged up and injured roster throughout much of the conference season. They’ve now won five straight, including a pair of overtime wins at Robert Morris last weekend, to make it back-to-back weekend sweeps.

Senior Naz Bohannon tallied his ninth game of 20-plus in scoring with 22 points, along with five assists to lead YSU, but Covington’s 16 points, after an 18 point performance Friday, led Calhoun to give him props following the win.

“(He’s) really figuring it out offensively, he’s done a really good job here of late scoring the ball and just being engaged in the entire 40 minutes,” Calhoun said.

Another player with a huge weekend was Rathan-Mayes, who added 15 points and four assists. Calhoun’s position group in practice is with the point guards, and he said that the 5-foot-11 guard has grown throughout his freshman campaign.

“We do this chart on defense, and he’s been out of the red,” Calhoun said. “And as a freshman he’s found himself in that red quite a bit this year. I think this was his third or fourth game in a row he’s been in the yellow.”

“So, maybe in 2022, when we’re all allowed to hang out again, I’m going to buy him a steak dinner,” he said with a smile. “But, he’s a young man that keeps getting better, him and DQ haven’t played that many games together. They’re still trying to figure out how to play with one another, but he had a great weekend.”

The Penguins (13-10, 8-10) now find themselves in the midst of a hunt for a top-four finish and a first-round bye into the quarterfinals of the league tournament. League seeding is computed using a formula this season, and YSU’s sweep comes as Oakland (3rd) and NKU (4th) split their road series.

Before the weeknd, YSU was ranked 5th, with updated seedings being released later this afternoon. They’ll wrap up their regular season at home against IUPUI (7-8, 6-8), starting Friday at 5 p.m.