Santiago's Late Three Lifts Men's Basketball to 92-89 Win at Green Bay

by YSU

Saturday, Jan 21, 2017 4:22 pm

Green Bay, Wis. -- Junior Francisco Santiago's 3-pointer with 20.6 seconds left broke an 85-85 tie and Brett Frantz made four straight free throws with under 10 seconds left to lift the Youngstown State men's basketball team to a 92-89 win over Green Bay on Friday night at the Resch Center.

With the game tied at 85-85 and with the ball, the Penguins turned the ball over with 33 seconds left but freshman Braun Hartfield blocked Khalil Small's layup attempt with 27 seconds left. Cameron Morse grabbed the rebound and pushed the ball to Santiago, who hit a 3-pointer from the right wing with just over 20 seconds left to give the Penguins an 88-85 lead.

Twice the Phoenix got within one, but Frantz converted a pair of free throws with 8.4 seconds and 5.1 seconds left to seal the win. Green Bay's final 3-point attempt was short.

The win marked Youngstown State's first win at the Resch Center since 2003 and improves the Penguins to 9-12 overall and 3-5 in Horizon League play. The Phoenix fall to 11-8 overall and 5-2 in the league.

Morse led all five starters scoring in double figures with 27 points on 11-of-26 shooting from the field. Morse also became the 24th player in school history to score 1,100 career points and now has 1,117.

Frantz and fellow senior Jorden Kaufman each scored 17 points, Hartield had 12 points and eighth rebounds and Santiago scored all 10 of his points in the second half.

The Penguins, who made 30 of their final 57 field-goal attempts, shot 51.5 percent from the field in the second half and outscored the Phoenix 49-44 after halftime.

Youngstown State trailed by as many as 11 points, 21-10, in the first half but outscored the Phoenix, 33-24, to get within two, 45-43, at halftime.

An 11-2 run early in the second half erased a three-point deficit and gave the Penguins their largest lead of the game, 64-58, with 13:09 to go. A pair of layups by Santiago, a putback by Kaufman, a 3-pointer by two free throws by Frantz sparked the run.

The Penguins also scored six straight points to overcome a late four-point deficit and take an 83-81 lead with 3:01 left. A free throw by Hartfield, a three-point play by Morse knotted the game at 81 and Kaufman's layup put the Penguins up two.

After a layup by Morse, Green Bay's Small tied the game up at 85-85 with two free throws with 1:01 left in the game.

The Penguins close out their three-game road trip against Milwaukee, Sunday, Jan. 22, at 1 p.m. Eastern at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.