Cape Girardeau, Mo. - The Youngstown State men's basketball team outscored Southeast Missouri by 20 points in a second half surge that led to a 97-79 Penguins victory at the Show Me Center on Saturday.
After trailing by two points at halftime, YSU outscored the Redhawks 60-40 to pick up its first win of the season and first-ever win by the program in the state of Missouri. Both the Guins and SEMO are 1-1 through two games early in the season.
Tevin Olison was one of five Penguins to reach double figures scoring 27 points. Olison scored the game's first nine points and had 14 in the half. Garrett Covington finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds, Michael Akuchie added 16 points, Shemar Rathan-Mayes had 15 and Dwayne Cohill contributed 10.
YSU jumped out to an 11-0 lead as Olison scored the first nine points and Jamir Thomas added a layup. SEMO answered with a 15-4 run tying the contest on a pair of free throws by Eric Reed Jr. at the 11:27 mark of the half.
YSU's biggest lead the remainder of the first half was 29-25 with 5:29 left before the Penguins found themselves down 37-32 with 2:27 left in the half before getting within 39-37 at the break.
The final 14 minutes was all Penguins.
Six minutes into the frame, Cohill drained a 3-pointer to make the score 54-51. Reed split a pair of free throws to make the contest 54-52 with 13:16 remaining. Over the next 3:19 YSU went on a 15-0 run to seize control of the contest. During the run, SEMO missed six consecutive shots while Olison and Covington combined for 10 points. A Chris Harris basket stopped the run, but the Guins scored the next eight points to go on a 23-2 spurt. Covington had six of the eight during that run.
YSU's largest lead of the game came at 84-60 with 5:34 left.
YSU outrebounded SEMO 43-33 and committed just seven turnovers. The Penguins made 28-of-36 free-throw attempts (77.8 percent) and from the field made 31-of-63 attempts (49.2 percent). Southeast Missouri had four players score in double figures. The Redhawks shot 40.4 percent from the field making 23-of-57 attempts.
The Penguins play their home opener on Friday when they play host to St. Thomas (Minn.) on Friday at the Beeghly Center. Tipoff for the opening contest of the The YSU/J. Arnold Wealth Management Company Basketball Tournament.
