Green Bay, Wis. – The Youngstown State men's basketball team could not find its shooting touch all game and dropped a 67-58 decision to Horizon League opponent Green Bay on Thursday evening at the Resch Center.
Junior Kendrick Perry scored a game-high 21 points with six rebounds and six steals to lead the Penguins, who fall to 9-8 overall and 1-3 in the Horizon League. Senior Blake Allen added 10 points.
Green Bay improves to 9-9 overall and 3-2 in the league. The Phoenix is also 8-1 at home this season.
The Phoenix scored seven of the first nine points of the second half to take a 32-27 lead with 15:38 left.
Allen hit two 3's to get the Penguins within one and Shawn Amiker's layup at the 11:58 mark gave the YSU a 35-34 lead, its last of the game.
Over the next seven minutes, the Phoenix outscored the Penguins, 17-3, and took 13-point lead, 51-38, with 4:56 to go.
Kamren Belin hit a 3-pointer and a free throw to get within six with 1:31 left, but the Penguins would not get any closer.
The Penguins, who made 5-of-10 from 3-point range in the second half, went 4-for-17 from inside the arc after halftime.
The Penguins and Phoenix battled through four ties and two lead changes in the first half and each team used runs to stay in the game.
After jumping out to a 7-0 lead, the Penguins went cold and Green Bay used an 11-2 run to go up 11-9 on a Carrington Love layup with 11:13 to go.
Youngstown State seemed to find its shooting touch from the perimeter connecting on three 3-pointers – two by Perry and one by Blake Allen – and a layup by Perry to take a 21-13 lead with 6:23 left.
The Phoenix battled back to outscore the Penguins, 12-4, and closed out the half tied at 25-25.
The Penguins shot just 28.1 percent in the first half but forced Green Bay turnovers, which led to nine points.
The Penguins stay on the road to take on Milwaukee, Saturday, Jan. 19. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. at the Klotsche Center. The game can be heard on AM 570 WKBN and seen on the Horizon League Network.
