The Town Crier

[PointGuard]

Penguins Continue Winning
By Steve Porter

The thermometer registered below zero when the visiting Penguins took on the Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix. Fortunately basketball is played indoors.

The two teams played a close first half with both offenses overwhelming the other teams’ defense. The half ended with Youngstown State gaining a slim 45-43 advantage. Rather than the rough play that highlighted the previous encounter between these two teams, both squads seemed intent on settling the score by executing well on each and every possession. C Jamal Grady had 11 points and PG Linehan Murphy scored 10 for YSU in the half.

Both teams continued to shoot well in the 2nd half, but the Penguins took control of the boards which allowed them to gradually build a 16 point lead with 8 minutes to play. But the Phoenix fought to get back into the game and with 2 minutes left trailed by just a 83-80 score. YSU held them off and pulled away when the Phoenix were forced to foul in the final minute of play. The Penguins came away with a 90-83 victory. On a night when the temperature in Green Bay was absolutely frigid, the two teams warmed the nets by hitting over 50% of their shots. But the difference in the game was YSU’s 32-21 rebounding advantage. In addition, the Penguins were able to limit high-scoring SG Ross Lang to just 11 points.

C Jamal Grady had a double-double, scoring 26 points and getting 10 rebounds. PG Linehan Murphy had 15 points. SF/SG Rick Martin added 10.

Not only was this a big win since it was an away game, but more importantly, Milwaukee lost to lowly Cleveland State. So now the Penguins are in a first-place tie with the Panthers.

“The games with Wisconsin-Green Bay are pretty much ‘take no prisoners’ events for both teams. There’s no love lost between us and them. We’ve been playing our asses off lately, so it’s great to finally tie for first place in the league. But to be honest I think we all feel even better about beating the Phoenix on their own court. I hope we get to play them again in the conference tourney and give the Phoenix a third beating this season,” said PF Aaron Tice after the game.

[PointGuard]

Penguins Challenged
By Steve Porter

The first half between Wright State and Youngstown State was close but the Penguins held a small lead most all the way and finished the half on top 42-36. SG B.J. Dennis led the scoring for YSU with 8 points.

The Raiders came out of the locker room and went on a run that gave them a 49-45 lead after 4 minutes of play in the 2nd half. The Penguins began chipping away and retook the lead 3 minutes later. With 6 minutes to go YSU led 64-54. Wright State cut the lead to 4 but could get no closer and had to put the Penguins on the foul line where YSU extended their lead and won by 75-66 score. YSU held a small advantage in almost all the statistical categories.

C Jamal Grady scored 16, had 7 rebounds and 3 steals. SG B. J. Dennis hit 7 of 8 shots to finish with 14 points. PF Rich Braswell scored 12 and PG Linehan Murphy added 11.

With Milwaukee winning the two teams remain tied atop the Horizon League standings with 10-2 records. The Penguins now have won 9 straight games.

[PointGuard]

Youngstown State Dominates
By Steve Porter

The Penguins scored first in their game last night at Oakland. They never looked back. Scoring with east they built a solid 50-35 halftime lead by hitting over 60% of their shots and controlling the boards. PG Tim Lostetter scored 12 to lead the Penguin charge.

YSU continued their onslaught in the 2nd half by tightening their defense. They continued to enlarge their lead all the way up to the end of the game and bludgeoned the Golden Grizzlies 92-61 and won their 10th game in a row. The Penguins outshot Oakland 59% to 44% and out-rebounded them 36-19.

PG Tim Lostetter scored 19 and PG Linehan Murphy scored 15. SG B.J. Dennis and PF Rich Braswell both scored 11, C Jamal Grady scored 10, and SF Chad Delzell scored 9 and had 9 rebounds.

With Milwaukee’s loss to UIC, Youngstown State took sole possession of 1st place in the Horizon League.

Coach KD Durst said, “We’ve been playing like a well-oiled machine. We are now seeing different players step up to carry the load so that Jamal Grady doesn’t have to come up big each and every game. That’s causing our opponents to defend all 5 positions rather than keying just on one.”

[Wayne23]

WHO ARE YOU, AND WHAT DID YOU DO WITH PointGuard!!!

[PointGuard]

WHO ARE YOU, AND WHAT DID YOU DO WITH PointGuard!!!

LOL

I have a new alias........

it's...............Wayne23.0.1

Actually it's scaring the crap outta me...they keep winning and I'm going to have to move on to a new dung-heap school.

[Wayne23]

As I've said in the past, PG plays this game while wearing a hair shirt.

[PointGuard]

As I've said in the past, PG plays this game while wearing a hair shirt.

Selfie: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6dVyhJrwks8/U ... 00/J44.jpg

[Wayne23]

Exactly!

[PointGuard]

What’s Happened with Youngstown State?
By Steve Porter

Following Youngstown State’s 10th consecutive victory, I caught up with Penguins Coach Durst to try to ask what’s behind the change in his team.

Durst responded by saying, “It wasn’t one thing and certainly not instantaneous. We’d been sort of going through the motions as a team. Winning some and losing some. If you had to rate our level of play, it probably would have been at about the 75% level rather than 100%. I don’t think our guys really believed we were a good team. We’d just gone through a 4-game losing streak that included us losing the first game in league play. I’m sure most people believed this season was going to be a near repeat of last season.

“Then over the course of four games, the team’s attitude completely changed. The first 3 of those 4 games were all exceptionally close. And we won 2 of those 3. At that point I think the team began to believe and gain confidence in their abilities and the importance of playing as a unit. Then that attitude was cemented in place over the course of the next two games. We won the first of those handily which proved to our guys we could dismantle other teams. Then we had to travel to Milwaukee to go up against a team that was undefeated in league play. We could have folded and let them walk over us like they had done to all other league competition up to that point. But our level of confidence was such that we blew the Panthers away. That further proved to us that we had what it takes to play anybody in this league. And from there on we’ve continued to steam-roll the opposition. What’s made me happiest is that the team’s confidence has been reflected not only in a potent offense, but dominance on the boards, and most importantly, a new defensive intensity. Instead of teams scoring 75-85 points against us, we’ve now regularly been holding them to 55-65 points.

“We’ve got five league games remaining. The team knows that if they want to come out on top of the Horizon League standings, it’s in their hands to do so. We’ve got to maintain our focus on winning each and every game we play.

[PointGuard]

Penguins Come Out Firing
By Steve Porter

Youngstown State had a huge first half. They led all the way and smothered visiting Valparaiso by a 59-34 score at the half. PF Aaron Tice, C Jamal Grady, and SF Rick Martin each scored 12 points.

Coach Durst substituted liberally in the 2nd half. The Penguins cruised to an easy 91-69 victory over the Crusaders.

C Jamal Grady scored 18 plus had 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals and 3 blocks while playing just 14 minutes. SF Rick Martin scored 14, PF Rich Braswell had 13, and PF Aaron Tice scored 12.

“After working so hard for the entire season, Jamal’s been tired the past few games. So it was nice to be able to give him a blow. I think the rest will reinvigorate him because I know we’re going to need him coming up big in some of the upcoming games toward the end of this season.”

The Penguins now have a 17-6 season record and a 12-2 league-leading record. Their RPI is 44th best in the nation.