Youngstown State men top Detroit Mercy, women hoops fall to Northern Kentucky
The Youngstown State men’s basketball team held Detroit Mercy without a field goal for the final four minutes and ended the game on an 11-3 run to rally for a 71-66 in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Barbasol Horizon League Men’s Basketball Championship. A raucous group of 5,584 fans, the largest crowd in Beeghly Center since 2013, cheered the Penguins on.
The win sends the top-seeded Penguins to Indianapolis for the final four of the conference tournament, and Youngstown State tied the program record for victories with 24 that was set in 1963-64.
Adrian Nelson scored 20 points to lead Youngstown State, and Dwayne Cohill scored 17. Cohill was big part of a group effort to hold the nation’s leading scorer Antoine Davis six points under his average. Davis came in needing 25 points to tie Pete Maravich’s NCAA Division I men’s career scoring record, and the Penguins held him to 22.
Davis hit a 3-pointer at the 4:19 mark to put the Titans up 63-60, but Detroit Mercy did not make a field goal the rest of the night. That triple gave Davis 20 points, but he missed his last seven attempts from the field.
After the Davis 3, the Penguins scored the next four points from the free throw line and took a 64-63 lead on two makes by Nelson at the 3:16 mark. Gerald Lidell split two charity tosses with 2:28 on the clock to tie the score at 64, and Nelson scored on a hook shot a minute later to give the Penguins a 66-64 lead that they would not surrender.
YSU got a stop defensively, and Cohill scored on a drive to the basket to push the margin to 68-64. Bryce McBride split two free throws with 16.4 seconds on the clock to make it a five-point game, and the Penguins got another stop. Davis made two free throws after a deadball technical foul to cut the deficit to one possession at 69-66, but Davis made two free throws with 9.5 seconds left to up the margin back to five. Davis had one more attempt to try and tie Maravich’s record, but his long 3-pointer hit the left side of the rim.
The Penguins shot 43.6% overall from the field, and they held the Titans to 35.3% for the game. The teams combined to go 11-for-49 from beyond the arc, and YSU held an 18-12 edge at the free-throw line.
Youngstown State’s largest lead of the first half came when Rush hit a 3-pointer at the 14:18 mark to make the score 9-6. The Titans scored 11 straight points, and they held their largest lead of the half at 17-9 when Davis hit a 3-pointer with 12:04 remaining.
The Penguins counterpunched with an 8-0 burst to go up 22-21 on a Malek Green bucket with 6:34 on the clock, but that was their last lead of the half. Detroit Mercy scored four straight points, and the Titans held a 33-29 lead at the break.
Rush made two 3-pointers, one that was followed by a free throw for a four-point play, at the 17:30 mark that got the Penguins to within 40-39. The Titans scored seven of the next nine points to take a 47-41 lead at the 14:34 mark, but that’s when the Penguins made their first charge of the second half.
After a long delay for a video review of a foul, the Penguins regrouped and scored eight straight points over the next two minutes to go up 49-47. The YSU lead was 51-49 with 10:53 on the clock when Detroit Mercy scored nine straight to go up 58-51 on a three-point play by Marcus Tankersley with 9:19 left. The Titans held the lead until Nelson’s free throws at the 3:15 mark gave the Penguins a 64-63 advantage.
Youngstown State will play Northern Kentucky in the semifinals at 7 p.m. on Monday at Indiana Farmers Coliseum. The game will be broadcast live on 570 WKBN and ESPNU. For tickets, go to HorizonLeague.com/Indy.
Women’s basketball: Northern Kentucky wins in final seconds to ruin Youngstown State comeback attempt
The Youngstown State women’s basketball team scored 15 straight points to take the lead in the final moments, but Northern Kentucky’s Lindsey Duvall scored with 3.8 seconds left to send the Norse to a 59-58 victory on Thursday in Beeghly Center.
The Norse advance to the semifinals of the 2023 Barbasol Horizon League Women’s Basketball Championship with the one-point victory. NKU is 17-13 overall, while YSU dropped to 19-11.
Lilly Ritz grabbed 21 rebounds, which was a Horizon League Tournament record for a single game, and scored 17 points. She scored 10 of those points in the fourth quarter as the Penguins made their charge. Dena Jarrells scored 15 points and registered four assists, and Malia Magestro added 10 points.
Duvall and Ivy Turner led NKU with 14 points apiece, and Kailee Davis finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds and six assists.
Both teams struggled from the field at the outset to set the stage for a defensive battle, but the Norse shot 51.7% in the middle two quarters as they led by as many as 16 at 43-27 with 4:50 left in the third quarter.
Paige Shy hit a 3-pointer just before the third-quarter horn to get the Penguins within 52-40 and give the team and a big crowd an energy boost for the final 10 minutes.
Jarrells hit a triple at the 7:48 mark to get the Penguins within 10 points at 53-43, and Ritz started her scoring tear with a steal and layup with 4:20 remaining that cut the deficit to single digits at 57-48. That was the first time the margin was under 10 since the opening 30 seconds of the third quarter.
Ritz’s steal and score started a stretch where she scored on five straight possessions, and she went 2-for-2 from the free-throw line with 52.5 seconds left to get the Penguins to within one at 57-56. Youngstown State then forced a turnover on defense, and Megan Callahan scored on a driving layup with 8.1 seconds left to give YSU its first lead since the score was 14-12.
NKU called timeout to advance the ball to the frontcourt, and Duvall received the inbounds pass near the baseline. Officials were letting the teams play physically down the stretch, and Duvall ran through Magestro on her way to an open layup on the right block with 3.7 left. That was the Norse’s only field goal of the fourth quarter.
YSU called timeout to advance the ball, and NKU doubled Ritz in the paint to take away the primary option. The Penguins had to settle for a contested 3-point attempt by Jarrells that bounced off the backboard and rim.
Doubled Ritz in the paint, and Jarrells got off a contested 3-pointer that bounced off the backboard and the left side rim.
NKU started the game 0-for-10 from the field and just 1-for-14 as Youngstown State took three different four-point leads in the first eight minutes. Jarrells’ three-point play with 20 seconds on the clock gave the Penguins their largest lead of the game at 14-9.
Kennedy Igo hit a 3-pointer for the Norse before the end of the quarter to make the score 14-12, and NKU scored the first eight points of the second quarter to extend the run to 11-0. Northern Kentucky’s first lead came when Khamari Mitchell-Steen hit a jumper at the 7:31 mark, and NKU did not trail until Callahan’s layup with 8.1 seconds left in the game.
Ritz’s first points of the night didn’t come until a layup with 3:58 on the clock brought the Penguins within two, and Magestro made two free throws with 2:26 left to tie the score at 22. NKU scored the final eight points of the half, including two by Turner on a putback at the buzzer.
Youngstown State didn’t score in the second half until a Jarrells 3-pointer with 6:15 left, and NKU took its largest lead at 43-27 on a 3-pointer by Davis with 4:50 remaining. That 3 completed a 21-5 run for the Norse after Magestro’s free throws tied the score at 22.
Neither team shot the ball well from the field as both squads made 20 field goals, and YSU held the upper hand at 37%. The Penguins made three more 3s than the Norse, but NKU held a 16-12 edge at the free-throw line.
Penguins start strong but are unable to overcome Niagara’s second-half push in 18-11 loss
The Youngstown State women’s lacrosse team delivered a strong start but was unable to overcome Niagara’s second-half push that led to an 18-11 loss on a cold Thursday afternoon at Niagara Field.
The Penguins fall to 1-4 on the season while Niagara improves to 4-1.
Natalie Calandra-Ryan and Erin Clark each delivered a hat trick of goals on the day with three apiece. Ali Korin (2), Shannyn Cullen, Jordan Miller, and Sydney Bumstead each found the back of the net for the Guins.
Taylor Bumstead delivered the only Penguin assist of the game. Clark led the Guins with five draw controls while Calandra-Ryan tallied four.
Mikaela Staranko netted 14 saves in the cage on a 41-shot barrage by the Purple Eagles, giving up 18 goals for a .438 save percentage
Lois Garlow, Andra Savage, and Rachel Crane spearheaded the Purple Eagles’ scoring effort with four goals apiece.
The Penguins were off to a strong start with a 5-1 scoring run to open the contest. Clark (2), Miller, Cullen, and Korin scored goals during the Penguins’ initial run.
Beginning at the 2:01 mark of the first quarter, Niagara delivered four unanswered goals before the end of the quarter to tie it up headed into the second, 5-5.
The Penguins and Purple Eagles went back and forth in the second quarter with four goals apiece. Bumstead scored her 10th goal of the season at the 12:05 mark of the quarter, and Clark did the same with 9:59 remaining in the half to complete her early first-half hat trick.
Calandra-Ryan found the back of the net at the 7:21 mark of the second quarter. The Penguins’ other second-quarter goal came when Korin accepted a Taylor Bumstead pass and fired into the net with 5:09 to play before halftime, making the first-half score 9-9.
Niagara opened the second half with back-to-back goals before Calandra-Ryan scored her second goal of the day at the 8:04 mark of the third quarter, YSU down 11-10.
The Purple Eagles closed out the third quarter with three unanswered goals and continued the run with an opening fourth-quarter goal to take a five-point lead over the Penguins, 15-10, at the 14:22 mark of the fourth.
Calandra-Ryan ended the Penguins’ scoring drought with 12:09 remaining in the game to complete her third hat trick of the season, making the score 15-11.
Niagara closed out the game with three unanswered to make the final score 18-11.
Youngstown State will remain on the road as they travel to take on No. 3 Northwestern at Ryan Fieldhouse in Evanston, Ill. on Sunday afternoon. First draw is set for 1 p.m.
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