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Men's Basketball vs Green Bay - Horizon League Tournament opener

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IAA Fan:
great game !!!!! Is that the first DI complete game win? I did not see how close UWGB got. I know they trimmed it to 6, down from upper teens. Cannot let that happen.  If we play like this, we are going to win another. Ward and Eargle played well. Did either get their double-double?

ysufan0505:
Great win, shot the lights out. Good team effort overall. Still have work to do!

guinpen:
Sweet, really really sweet

ysuindy:
Sclazo's Vindy game story

http://www.vindy.com/news/2012/feb/29/for-starters-ysu-rolls-past-gb/

By Joe Scalzo

scalzo@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Five minutes into Tuesday’s Horizon League tournament opener, Youngstown State sophomore guard Kendrick Perry had already thrown down a dunk and Green Bay coach Brian Wardle had already thrown down a clipboard.

By then, Perry had 12 points and Wardle had heartburn.

Not a bad start.

Not a bad finish, either.

Putting together what YSU coach Jerry Slocum called “the most complete game we’ve played this year,” Youngstown State won its first postseason tournament game in three years, refrigerating the league’s hottest team en route to a 77-60 victory in front of nearly 3,000 fans at Beeghly Center.

The Penguins (16-14) will play Detroit (18-13) at 6 p.m. Friday in a second round game at Valparaiso.

“There comes a point in time where you get tired of losing in the first round,” said junior forward Damian Eargle, who had 17 points and nine rebounds. “Hopefully we can keep it going.”

The seed for Tuesday’s performance was planted Sunday afternoon. YSU had lost a close game to Detroit just hours before and faced a tight turnaround for the tournament opener.

Slocum’s team could have been tired and testy. Instead, it was feisty and focused and the attitude carried over into Tuesday’s game.

The Penguins led by double digits for more than 30 of the game’s final 35 minutes.

“I told them after practice Sunday night, ‘I am so freaking proud of you guys,’” said Slocum. “We were jacked and ready.

“I went home and said, ‘I’ve never been more confident about a game coming up.’ Because those dudes were locked.”

Green Bay entered the game on a five-game winning streak, a stretch that started with a 71-65 home win over the Penguins on Valentine’s Day. YSU senior DuShawn Brooks had a particularly rough time that night, scoring just two points on 1 of 6 shooting.

Tuesday was a different story. Brooks scored 12 points in the first half, finished with 16 and played terrific defense at power forward, using his athleticism to frustrate Green Bay center Brennan Cougill — whose 6-foot-9, 265-pound frame is three inches taller and 50 pounds heavier than Brooks.


When asked if he was motivated by the Feb. 14 loss, Brooks said, “It was in my mind, but at the end of the day I knew I needed to play defense for my team, help us out, do the little things and my offense would come to me sooner or later.

“It worked out good for me.”

All five starters scored in double figures for Youngstown State, which is guaranteed its first .500 season since 2000-01 — its final season in the Mid-Continent Conference.

Perry, a first-team all-conference selection on Monday, scored 15 points with three steals, senior Ashen Ward (who, like Brooks, was playing his final game at Beeghly Center) had 14 points and Blake Allen scored 11.

When asked why things worked so well on Tuesday, Slocum chuckled and said, “If I could bottle it, if I knew, I’d putting it an every-game thing.

“I think at this time of year maturity shows. I think being in a lot of big games. I mean, they just played good.”

Green Bay’s 7-foot-1 sophomore Alec Brown, a second team all-league choice, was the Phoenix’s lone bright spot, scoring 20 points with nine rebounds.

Freshman point guard Keifer Sykes — an all-newcomer selection — had nine points on 3 of 11 shooting with six turnovers, thanks in large part to Perry’s defense.

Now the Penguins must keep the momentum going as they play the league’s most talented — and, at times, most perplexing — team.

“It was good to get the win and make it known that we are a good team and that we can actually go out and try to win the Horizon League,” said Brooks.

ysuindy:
John Vargo's story from the Trib

http://www.tribtoday.com/page/content.detail/id/568628/Eargle-nomics--YSU-tops-Green-Bay.html?nav=5024

YOUNGSTOWN - Damian Eargle stands 6-foot-7 and weighs about 215 pounds.

Green Bay's Brennan Cougill is 6-9 and is about 260 pounds. With about 7 minutes remaining, Eargle, a YSU junior forward and Warren G. Harding graduate, was directly behind Cougill. But, that didn't stop Eargle from reaching with his arms that make him bigger than 7 feet and grabbing the rebound without getting the dreaded over the back call.

Then, Eargle put the offensive board back from 4 feet away - giving the Penguins a 14-point lead.

It was part of the Penguins' 77-60 first-round Horizon League Tournament victory Tuesday at Beeghly Center.

Besides Cougill, who had eight points, there was 7-1 center Alec Brown, whose skinny frame and all had a game-high 20 points for the seventh-seeded Phoenix, who ended the season 15-15.

"They're two big guys," said Eargle, who had a team-high 17 points, nine rebounds and two blocks. "Cougill weighs 270 or something like that. It's just effort."

YSU hasn't won a first-round playoff game since beating Detroit in 2007.

"I just wanted to come out hard," Eargle said. "There comes a point and time where you get tired of losing in the first round. We all have the mindset of just being aggressive.

"That's what I did."

The sixth-seeded Penguins (16-14) next play Friday against third-seeded Detroit (19-13), which beat Loyola on Tuesday, 80-71. The game will be a second-round game in Valparaiso, Ind. The top-ranked Crusaders host the second-round and semifinal games.

As for Penguins, they ended one of the league's hottest teams. Green Bay came into YSU winning eight of its last 10 - including wins against Butler, Valparaiso and Cleveland State.

However, just like the game against YSU back on Jan. 22 in Youngstown where the Penguins won by 30, it was an utter domination by YSU once again.

"I thought for 40 minutes, from tipoff to the end, I thought it was the most complete basketball game we've played this year with not a whole highs and lows," YSU coach Jerry Slocum said. "I thought our guys kept their intensity for 40 minutes tonight."

YSU took a 17-6 lead on Blake Allen's 3. Then Penguins shot 50 percent at halftime and were 8 of 12 from 3-point range. Allen finished with 11 points.

The Penguins had a balanced scoring attack.

Kendrick Perry and DuShawn Brooks both had 12 at the break. Perry finished the game with 15 points, while Brooks added 16. Ashen Ward had 14 for YSU.

For Brooks, it's been a struggle offensively prior to Tuesday's game.

"I was just coming out, knowing I needed to play defense for my team and help us out - doing the little things and my offensive game would come sooner or later," Brooks said. "It worked out good for me."

It worked out well for Eargle tonight as well.

Eargle put an exclamation point on the first half - putting back his own miss near the basket with a thunderous dunk with 30 second left before intermission- giving the Penguins a 45-34 lead at the break.

"Dam can step off the block and little bit and he shot the ball extremely well tonight," Slocum said. "In the first half, he drove it extremely well. They came up. He went around them and made some great plays. The play just before the half I thought was a temple maker.

"In the second half, they knew they couldn't guard him, they stayed off of him and he made some good jump shots. His basketball IQ as the year as gone on has gotten better and better."

It was just one of those game for the former WGH standout, who was 8 of 13 from the floor.

"When I'm hitting shots, it's a good momentum thing for me," Eargle said. "I was just feeling it and I got into my groove."

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