Youngstown -- The Youngstown State men's basketball team was outscored 28-7 over a 14-minute span into the second half and could never recover, losing 71-60 to Green Bay on Thursday evening at Beeghly Center.
Freshman Kendrick Perry did his best to bring the Penguins back, scoring 16 of his 19 points in the second half. Sophomore Damian Eargle also had 19 points, seven rebounds and four blocks for the Penguins.
Bryquis Perine scored 19 points for Green Bay, which shot 54.2 percent in the second half. Rahmon Fletcher added 18 points.
YSU leading scorer Vytas Sulskis battled foul trouble all night and was held to two points.
Youngstown State led by six twice in the first 11 minutes of the game but scored just five points in the final 9:45 of the first half. Green Bay closed out the period on an 18-5 run to give it a 30-23 halftime advantage.
An Eargle bucket capped a 7-0 run that gave the Penguins a 16-10 lead with 11:09 remaining. Eargle scored again to give the Guins an 18-12 advantage with 9:46 to play, but that was YSU's last field goal for four-and-a-half minutes.
Green Bay scored nine straight points and reclaimed the lead at 21-18 on a Perine triple with 6:04 to play. Ashen Ward hit a jumper to get the Guins to within 21-20, and Blake Allen made a lay-up with the shot clock running out to make the score 25-22. Green Bay then hit a trey and a jumper in the final two minutes, and YSU was limited to a DuShawn Brooks free throw.
YSU did not make a 3-pointer in the final 13 minutes of the first half.
Fletcher scored the first four points of the second half to give Green Bay its first double-digit lead, and the Phoenix jumped up to a 40-25 advantage with 16:27 remaining.
YSU's second 7-0 run in just over four minutes cut Green Bay's lead to 47-41 with 10:35 left, but the Phoenix scored the next five points to go up 52-41 with nine minutes remaining.
Green Bay eventually upped its lead to 60-46 with 4:54 remaining, and YSU was not able to get closer than eight the rest of the way. The Phoenix went 14-for-22 from the free-throw line in the second half.
Perry was 6-for-13 from the field and 5-for-7 from 3-point range. Eargle was 8-for-15 and Allen was 3-for-6, but the other four Penguins who took a shot went a combined 5-for-26.
Youngstown State will play its final regular-season game on Saturday against Milwaukee at 1:05 p.m.. Sulskis and fellow senior Dan Boudler will be honored prior to the contest as they play their final game at Beeghly Center.
