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Tourney trail gets started for YSU

YOUNGSTOWN — If it seems like we’ve been here before, it’s because we have.

The Youngstown State men’s and women’s basketball teams begin Horizon League tournament play today and both are facing opponents that already have played at the Beeghly Center earlier this season.

The women, seeded seventh, face 10th-seeded Purdue Fort Wayne, who the Penguins swept on Feb. 5-6 by scores of 102-60 and 68-52.

The YSU men, seeded sixth, will meet 11th-seeded Illinois-Chicago. The Flames played at Beeghly on Jan. 22-23, winning the first game, 67-66 at the buzzer, and losing to the Penguins, 85-77, in the second game.

The women’s game is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. (WNIO 1390-AM) and the men’s game starts at 8 (WKBN 570-AM). Both games will be available for viewing on ESPN-plus.

Today’s winners advance to the quarterfinal round, which is scheduled Tuesday at campus sites for both men and women. YSU’s women would face third-seeded Green Bay or second-seeded Milwaukee. The men likely will visit third-seeded Oakland, or could go to fourth-seeded Northern Kentucky.

The men closed out the season winning five of their last six games, finishing 9-11 in Horizon League play. All-Horizon second-team selection Naz Bohannon finished top-10 in scoring (16.5), field-goal percentage (51.5) and rebounding (8.2) during league play.

YSU also welcomed back Darius Quisenberry to the floor earlier this month after he missed a large chunk of the season due to injury. He is averaging 16.5 points per game over the last six games.

In addition, Shemar Rathan-Mayes was selected to the league’s All-Freshman Team, and Garrett Covington earned his third All-Defensive Team selection.

When the Penguins and Flames met in January, Bohannon scored 20 points and Michael Akuchie had 13 points and 13 rebounds in the Friday game that UIC won at the buzzer on a tipped-in missed shot.

In the Saturday game, Bohannon scored a game-high 23 points while freshman Daniel Ogoro scored a career-high 19 points. Akuchie had 13 points and nine rebounds while Covington posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

The YSU women have been led by Horizon League Freshman of the Year Nneka Obiazor and a trio of seniors — Mary Dunn, Chelsea Olson and McKenah Peters. Dunn was named second-team All-Horizon and Obiazor and Olson were both on the third team. All four are in the top 25 in scoring in the league, averaging between 9.5 and 15.6 points per game.

Not surprisingly, Youngstown State ranks first in the league with 15.5 assists per game and second with a team field goal percentage of 44.5 percent.

Sierra Bell leads the Mastodon offense with 10.9 points per game this season while Riley Ott averages 9.9 per game.

The other men’s first-round games scheduled today are Robert Morris (12th seed) at Detroit Mercy (5), Purdue Fort Wayne (10) and Green Bay (7) and IUPUI (9) at Milwaukee (8). The top four seeds are Cleveland State, Wright State, Oakland and Northern Kentucky.

On the women’s side, UIC (11) at Cleveland State (6) and Robert Morris (9) at Northern Kentucky (8) are the other first-round games. Detroit Mercy opted out so there is one less game than the men.

Top seeds are Wright State, Milwaukee, Green Bay, Oakland and IUPUI. The latter two face each other in a quarterfinal matchup.

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