Penguins Pick Up First Win Of Season Beating Oberlin, 71-53

by YSU

Tuesday, Nov 18, 2014 1:09 pm

The Youngstown State men's basketball team closed out Oberlin with a solid final 10 minutes as the Penguins picked up their first win of the season, 71-53, on Sunday afternoon at the Beeghly Center.

The Penguins (1-1) held a 48-44 advantage with 9:42 left before using a 17-2 surge to push their advantage out to 65-46 with just under five minutes left in the contest. YSU eventually ended the contest by scoring 26 of the final 35 points.

Helping to lead the charge was junior Bobby Hain who had a game-high 20 points while grabbing 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the season and 10th of his career. Hain was a strong 8-of-9 from the free-throw line and made six field goals en route to his 20-point performance.

As a squad, YSU had five players finish in double figures as Shawn Amiker (13, Marcus Keene (12), Fletcher Larson (10) and DJ Cole (10) all joined Hain in the category. Fletcher's 10 points, all of which came in the first half with Hain in foul trouble, set a new career high.

The Guins never lost the lead they built at halftime, but Oberlin did pull within one on three occasions in the second half, the last time coming at 42-41 with 12:07 left in the contest. At that point, YSU scored the next six points before the Yeoman (1-1) pulled with 48-44 at the 9:42 mark. After that, the contest was all YSU.

For the game, YSU shot 39.7 percent (23-of-58) following a strong second half in which it made 13-of-25 shots (52 percent). Oberlin made 17-of-50 field-goal attempts (34 percent) with 18 misses coming from beyond the 3-point arc. The Penguins had 19 assists on 23 buckets led by Cole who had nine.

In the first half, YSU took 10 more field-goal attempts and made three more than the Yeoman to go on top 29-22 at the break.

Larson eclipsed his career high by scoring 10 points in the opening period by knocking down 5-of-8 shots from the field. Cole was the creator with six assists as the Guins had nine assists on 10 made baskets.

Leading 9-7, the Penguins scored eight straight points to grab their biggest advantage of the opening half at 17-7 on a 3-pointer by Keene at the 8:08 mark.

But the Yeoman didn't back down trimming the deficit to three on a pair of occasions, the last of which in the opening half was 19-16 on a Jack Poyle basket with 5:18 left on the clock.

YSU ended the last five minutes of the half on a 10-5 run to go on top 29-22.

The Penguins head out on the road for the first time this season when they take on Central Michigan on Tuesday night. Tip-off for the contest against the Chippewas is set for 7 p.m.

No comments posted...