The Town Crier

[Wayne23]

People in Penguin suits marching out side of the A. D>'s office carrying signs saying, "Durst is curst!"

[PointGuard]

People in Penguin suits marching out side of the A. D>'s office carrying signs saying, "Durst is curst!"

LOL...good one! I'm beginning to feel that really is the case.

Now that they've got those signs, I'm worried they soon will cross out the "c" and over-write it with a "w".

Of course, if things go right in a few years the "c" and "w" can both be crossed out and over-written with a "f".

[Wayne23]

CLEVER!!! But Durst had better watch for the CLEAVER!!!

[PointGuard]

If i'd have been thinking, I would have nicknamed this guy "Liver" rather than "KD".

[PointGuard]

Penguins Come Up Short
By Steve Porter

Youngstown State travelled to Louisiana to take on the University of Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns. While this game was advertised as a bracket buster, the two teams brackets have already been busted with YSU sporting a 12-13 record and UL-Lafayette an 11-14 record.

Both teams shot well, both hitting over 50% of their shots. UL-Lafayette took a slim 46-43 lead to the locker room. C Jamal Grady carried the YSU offense with 17 points in the first half.

The score stayed close throughout the entire 2nd half but the Penguins came up on the short end of a final 79-77 score. The refs gave the win to UL-Lafayette as the Ragin’ Cajuns scored 11 more points from the foul line that did YSU.

C Jamal Grady score 27 points and SG Josh Jones had 14 for the Penguins. SF Brian Adams popped in 21 points for UL-Lafayette.

[PointGuard]

Penguins Turn Over Game
By Steve Porter

The first half between Youngstown State and Valparaiso was sloppily played. The Crusaders had 9 turnovers and the Penguins topped that with 12 turnovers. YSU held a small lead early in the half and then dropped behind by 8 points before rallying in the latter stages to take a 36-34 lead to the locker room. SF Rick Martin came off the bench to score 9 points in 9 minutes of play.

The Penguins controlled the game throughout the first part of the 2nd half, but then a series of turnovers let the Crusaders pull away and open a 14-point lead. YSU fought to get back into the game, but couldn’t put together a sustained run. The Penguins dropped the game by a score of 82-72 after turning the ball over 22 times. The loss dropped the Penguins into a tie for 8th place in the Horizon League with a 6-11 league record.

SG Josh Jones’ 18 points topped the scoring for Youngstown State with PF Aaron Tice tossing in 16 and SF Rick Martin finishing with 13.

[PointGuard]

Youngstown State Ends League Play on High Note
By Steve Porter

The Youngstown State Penguins hosted the Detroit Titans for their final game of the regular season. The Penguins jumped out to a 13 point lead in the first 6-1/2 minutes of play. YSU continued to dominate the Titans and finished the half ahead by a score of 48-32. SG Josh Jones, PF Aaron Tice, and PF Rich Braswell each scored 10 points for the Penguins.

Midway through the 2nd half, the Titans cut the lead to 9 points, but YSU immediately reasserted themselves and finished with a 96-77 thrashing of Detroit. The win edged the Penguins up to a 7th place tie in the Horizon League.

Reserve C Kent Jones hit 8 of 10 shots and scored 19 points. SG Josh Jones hit for 14 and PF’s Aaron Tice and Rich Braswell both scored 12.

PG Tim Lostetter broke his left wrist in the 2nd half and will be unavailable for any tournament games for the Penguins. Coach KD Hurst said, “Losing Tim is tough. Tim’s played tough all year for us. I know he’s disappointed to not be able to contribute as we enter Horizon League tourney play. But we’ll adjust our lineup and do the best we can.”

Final Horizon League Standings 2017-2018 Season:

[PointGuard]

Horizon League Tournament Opens
By Steve Porter

Six teams (#1 UIC, #2 Wisconsin-Green Bay, #3 Milwaukee, #4 Valparaiso, #5 Detroit, and #6 Northern Kentucky) had byes for round one of the Horizon League Tournament. That left it up to the bottom four teams in the league standings to battle to play the top-standing teams.

Before games began, I was able to interview Coach KD Durst.

SP: Coach, with your starting point guard, Tim Lostetter, out with a broken wrist, how have you altered your starting lineup?
KD: Having Timmy out will be a real challenge for us. Not only has he been our primary playmaker but losing his 25 minutes of floor time means our remaining guards are likely to be dog-tired by the end of the game. To help with this I’m moving Josh Jones from the 2 to the 1 to begin the game and starting Rick Martin at SG. Rick has primarily played SF, but he’s been one of our best outside shooters all season.
SP: You split your games against Oakland this year, losing by 13 on their court and winning by 18 at home. Do you have any cards up your sleeve that will give you an advantage on a neutral court?
KD: I wish I did, but the entire team knows they just have to go out and put it all out on the floor against the Grizzlies. Oakland’s lineup is like ours in that there is no one stand-out guy. So we can’t focus our efforts on a single player. I’m hoping our interior game comes alive. If it does I think we have a good chance.
SP: The winner of your game has to play 1st place UIC. Are you up to that challenge?
KD: I’m not going to get ahead of what’s important right now and that’s beating Oakland.

In the first game last night #7 Wright State took on #10 Cleveland State. Cleveland State came out on fire and opened a commanding 26 point lead in the first half. The Raiders reeled the Vikings back in late in the half but still trailed 50-33 at the end of the half. Wright State continued to chip away at the lead in the 2nd half and took a 73-72 lead with 4 minutes to play. The Vikings came back though and scored a minor upset by the score of 82-77. SG Lloyd Sanders pumped in 27 points to lead Cleveland State’s winning effort.

The nightcap pitted #8 Youngstown State against #9 Oakland. With a stellar defense, the Penguins took a 24-5 lead after 10 minutes of play. Their lead ballooned to 36-8 with 4 minutes left in the first half. The half ended with the Penguins on top 40-13. The Grizzlies hit just 13% of their first half shots. SF Chad Delzell led YSU’s offense with 13 points.

The Penguins started slowly in the 2nd half, but then re-established their supremacy as Coach Durst shuttled players on and off the court. Even though Oakland shot better in the 2nd half, they still were held to just 26% shooting for the entire game compared to the Penguins 46% shooting. Youngstown State was also +10 in rebounds and +6 in turnovers. When the buzzer sounded, the Penguins walked off court after smashing Oakland 78-43.

C Jamal Grady scored 18, PF Aaron Tice and SF Chad Delzell both knocked down 16 points, and SG Josh Jones added 10.

Coach Durst said, “Our guys came to play tonight. While our offense clicked and we got good positioning on the boards, our defense was awesome throughout the entire game. Our guys didn’t give up any easy shots and made the Grizzlies work hard for every basket they made."

[PointGuard]

Horizon League Tourney Continues
By Steve Porter

The quarter-finals in the Horizon League Tournament were played yesterday afternoon and evening. The results of the four games were as follows:

#5 Detroit vs # 4 Valparaiso: With the games being played this year in Detroit, the Titans took advantage of being home. Trailing by 11 after 12 minutes of play, Detroit stealthily fought their way back into the game with ample support from a large fan base. By the end of the half the Titans led 37-31. The game remained close in the early stages of the 2nd half but Detroit went on 13-2 run midway through the half to open their largest lead of the game at 83-66. They then slowed the tempo to keep the Crusaders from being able to make a serious challenge. The final score was 92-77 in favor of Detroit. SF Garvin Moore popped in 19 points to lead the Titan attack.

#6 Northern Kentucky vs #3 Milwaukee: The first half was close with 6 lead changes and 2 ties, but Northern Kentucky pulled away in the final minutes to take a 40-33 halftime advantage. The Norse came out in the 2nd half with a tenacious defense that allowed them to eventually forge a 21 point lead. From there Northern Kentucky coasted to a decisive 76-60 victory over the favored Panthers. The Norse had 4 players score in double figures (SG Jerry Alexaner-18, C Troy Fingelton-17, PG Jon Robinson-16, and SF Anthony Green-14). Milwaukee was paced by C Jon Finger’s double-double (12 points and 13 boards).

#10 Cleveland State vs #2 Wisconsin-Green Bay: The Phoenix and Vikings played evenly throughout the first half with Cleveland State coming out ahead 36-33. Cleveland State scored the first 7 points of the 2nd half to open a 10 point lead, but Wisconsin-Green Bay roared back and the two teams fought furiously until the very end. With the game tied with 14 seconds remaining, the Phoenix turned the ball over. Following a time out, the Vikings worked the clock down to 2 seconds when PG Josh Griffin hit a jumper behind a double screen to give lowly Cleveland State a surprise 77-75 upset win over the Phoenix. SF Robbie Daniels topped the Vikings’ scoring with 16 points, but SG Lloyd Sanders scored a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds while also getting 5 steals and 3 blocks for Wisconsin-Green Bay.

#7 Youngstown State vs #1 UIC: Hoping to emulate Cleveland State’s upset win, the Penguins came out with Levall Hart starting at PG (in place of the injured Tim Lostettera) and tasked with stopping UIC’s high-scoring Dan Rucker) and Josh Jones back at his regular SG position. Trying to neutralize the Flames other prolific scorer, center Dan Davis, the Penguins continually worked the ball inside to Jamal Grady. Grady successfully got Davis to make two quick fouls sending him to the bench. Grady scored YSU’s first 7 points but they still trailed 19-7, primarily due to Dan Rucker notching 8 quick points for UIC. Unable to stop the formidable offense of UIC, the Penguins fell behind by 17 before rallying late to close the half trailing by a score of 48-40. The Flames hit 63% of their shots in the half with PG Dan Rucker accounting for 18 of their points. C Jamal Grady scored 15 for Youngstown State.

A flurry of early 2nd half fouls sidelined 3 YSU starters (Tice, Jones, and Delzell) with 3 fouls apiece. The Penguins closed the gap to 5 points, but then UIC’s quickness took control as they turned steals into driving layups. The Flames slick offense continued to hammer away as they finished the game by hitting 58% of their shots and finished the Penguins’ season by inflicting an 89-73 thumping on YSU.

C Jamal Grady led Youngstown State with 23 points followed by SG Josh Jones’ 14 and PF Aaron Tice’s 11. PG Dan Rucker tossed in 26 points for UIC.

Coach KD Durst said after the game, “UIC is a strong team and has been the team to beat all season in this league. They have a lot of quickness and that caused our guys to get in foul trouble. The Flames played well tonight and basically just gave us a whipping. Josh Jones played a good game for us in his last game as a Penguin. He’s been a key player for us in both of my seasons as head coach here. I’m sorry to see him leave, but know he’ll be successful in whatever he does in the future.”

[PointGuard]

Horizon League Semi-Finals
By Steve Porter

In a battle of two underdogs, #6 seed Northern Kentucky took on #10 seed Cleveland State in last night’s opening game. Cleveland State jumped out on top and never gave up the lead. At the half they led 31-24 and the Vikings opened an 18 point lead in the 2nd half. The Norse made a big run late in the 2nd half to make it close. But Cleveland State was not to be denied and they eked out a 73-69 win to send them to tomorrow night’s championship game. PG Josh Griffin and reserve SG O.J. White both scored 15 for the Vikings. SG Jerry Alexander led the Norse with 20 points.

In the nightcap, #5 seed Detroit went up against #1 seed UIC. UIC dominated in the first half enroute to a 44-34 halftime lead. But the many fans who filled the gym in Detroit to cheer on the Titans, helped Detroit to scrappily fight its way back into the game in the 2nd half. Detroit took a lead with 6:52 to go. The game see-sawed back and forth for the next 3 minutes, but then the Titans, buoyed by their fans, put a hurting on favored UIC to win 80-74. SG Rufus Benton scored 10 of his game-high 19 points in the final 5 minutes of play for Detroit.