The Town Crier

[PointGuard]

Penguins’ Game Decided in Final Seconds
By Steve Porter

Last night the Youngstown State Penguins journeyed to New Jersey to take on the 7-1 Monmouth Hawks who were 5-0 at home. The Penguins were trying to reverse their fortunes. After winning 4 of their first 5 games, YSU had lost their last 3 games, including an embarrassing loss in their home opener.

The Hawks came out firing, hitting 6 of their first 8 shots including 4 of 5 from beyond the arc to take a 16-8 lead in the first 4 minutes of play. The Penguins fell behind by 10 before rallying late in the half. With 5:41 to play they closed to within two at 35-33. But Monmouth bounced back to pull away to a 46-36 advantage. Guards B.J. Dennis and Levall Hart both scored 6 points in the half to lead the Penguins.

YSU fell behind by 15 before again rallying to draw within 4 points with 11-1/2 minutes to play. Then with 9:55 remaining, PG Linehan Murphy stuck a 3 pointer to make the score 62-61. On the Penguins’ next possession Murphy drove down the lane and drew a foul on his attempt to score. He drilled both free throws to give Youngstown State its first lead at 63-62.

With a minute to play the score was knotted at 77-77. PF Aaron Tice’s shot was blocked but SF Colin Chambliss recovered the ball and was fouled when he tried to put up a quick shot. He sunk both free throws putting the Penguins on top by 2 with 55 seconds to play. The Hawk’s Scott Diara muscled up a shot near the basked that went in and he was fouled by Jamal Grady on the shot. Diara converted the 3-point play to give Monmouth an 80-79 advantage with just 39 seconds left. SG B.J. Dennis drove into the lane and put up an 8 footer that rimmed out. The ball squirted out of bounds and was awarded to Monmouth. Having been called for just 3 fouls in the half, the Penguins couldn’t intentionally foul, but Colin Chambliss got in front of Clint Nicholson as he tried to dribble and drew the offensive charge foul. With just 7 seconds to play, Coach Durst called a timeout. PG Linehan Murphy took the inbounds pass and fired it over to C Jamal Grady on the right end line. Grady turned and put up a 6 foot jumper that swished through the net with 2 seconds on the clock giving the Penguins a thrilling 81-80 victory.

The Penguins had 5 men score in double figures. Leading their scoring was SG B.J. Dennis with 16 points. SF Colin Chambliss had 13, C Jamal Grady 12, PG Linehan Murphy 11, and PF Aaron Tice 10. Grady also had 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block. For Monmouth, SG Errick Crosby led all scorers with 22 points and PF Brandt Stinnett had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.

After the game, Jamal Grady said, “Coach Durst worked up that play during our timeout. It was Aaron Tice’s cut across the key that opened the passing lane allowing Linehan to get the pass across court to me. Then it was just a matter of getting the ball up over my defender to get it in the hoop. I was surprised Coach called on me for the final shot, since I failed to hit a single shot from the field in our previous game. After my injury and missing two games, it was really tough getting back into the flow in the last 3 games so, while I still am not 100%, it was nice to at least be able to contribute a little tonight.”

Coach Durst added, “Jamal’s being hard on himself. He had 11 boards in our last game and 9 tonight. While he was out, others stepped up their scoring so there is a better distribution of shots and scoring now. He’s been getting fewer attempts while he works himself back into shape. He will have some more big games for us, but others are now able to carry the scoring in some games as well and that’s healthy for our team. Anyway, this was a great game for us. To come back like that was big. It will give us confidence as we open league play.”

The 5-4 Penguins play their first Horizon League game next week when they travel to take on the 7-2 Detroit Titans. The Titans are riding a five game win streak, the last three on the road against Missouri State, Iowa State, and New Mexico State.

[PointGuard]

Youngstown State Begins Horizon League Play
By Steve Porter

Playing 8 of their 9 games on the road and playing their only home game as if in a daze, the Youngstown State Penguins 5-4 record can be viewed positively.

Their starting lineup has played well together and their bench players have contributed in a way that allows Coach KD Durst to substitute freely.

All starters are averaging 22-27 minutes of play per game. C Jamal Grady has been their key player, averaging 13.8 ppg and 6.9 rpg and is hitting 55% of his FG attempts. SF Colin Chambliss, has played better than expected as a freshman and is averaging 12.7 ppg while pulling down 5.3 rpg. SG B.J. Dennis, while being somewhat inconsistent, is averaging 10.7 ppg and is the team’s best 3-point threat. PF Aaron Tice again is again playing strongly this season with 9.1 ppg and 6.4 rpg. Even though PG Levall Hart hasn’t been a big scorer, averaging 5.7 ppg, he has performed well as the team’s field general, distributing the ball well and averaging 4.2 apg.

PG Linehan Murphy is shooting well (54.8% from the field) and is averaging 6.7 ppg and 3.1 apg. Tim Lostetter and William Swan have each played about 10 mpg at the guard positions and both are averaging about 4 ppg. At SF, William Worley and Lee Pauly have combined to play about 13 mpg. While their scoring averages are low, each has had at least one strong scoring game so they have the capability to step up when needed. Inside, Kent Jones is averaging 6.2 ppg and 2.9 rpg and Kevin Anderson is averaging 3.9 ppg while playing about 10 mpg. Charlie Paben has been used sporadically, but has come up big in one game so has the ability to contribute.

The team is averaging 76.0 ppg while giving up 72.2 ppg. They have out-rebounded the opposition, averaging 30.7 rpg compared to their opponents’ 29.8 rpg. The Penguins are averaging just 14.8 turnovers per game while forcing their opponents to make 17.7 turnovers per game.

The best pre-conference records for Horizon League teams this year have been: Milwaukee (8-3), Detroit (7-2), UIC (6-3), and Northern Kentucky (6-3).

Jamal Grady, who was the top Horizon League scorer before being injured, is now 7th highest. Top scorers are: Ivoree Cameron (Wright State), 17.6 ppg; Troy Fingelton (Northern Kentucky), 15.4 ppg; Travon Capel (Valparaiso), 15.0 ppg; Jared McDaniel (Northern Kentucky), 14.7 ppg; DeWy Nielsen (UIC), 14.4 ppg; and William Rogers (Detroit), 14.1 ppg. Grady, along with Jon Finger (Milwaukee) and Ryan Watson (Milwaukee) are tied for 3rd in the list of top rebounders in the Horizon League. William Rogers (Detroit) is the leading rebounder with 9.9 rpg followed by Travon Capel (Valparaiso), 8.5 rpg. Levall Hart is the 3rd on the list of Horizon League players distributing assists following just Geordie Wright (Detroit), 6.1 apg and Michael Smith (Cleveland), 4.7 apg.

“While we’ve still got to develop further, the team has come together well this season,” said Coach KD Durst. “I believe the league is stronger overall this season, so it will be a challenge and we will need to be up for every game. I don’t think there are any walk-overs. Beyond continuing to develop our players and improve our teamwork and overall intensity, hopefully we can avoid any serious injuries. Even though we have a strong bench, injuries always change the way we play the game and can expose weaknesses.”

[PointGuard]

Penguins Drop League Opener
By Steve Porter

SG B.J. Dennis and C Jamal Grady combined to score the first 9 points of the game while the Penguins held the Titans scoreless for the first 3-1/2 minutes of the game. But the Titans stormed back to take a 13-10 lead six minutes later. The Penguins shooting went cold and they fell behind by a 30-20 score. Detroit held YSU at arms’ length and finished the half ahead 37-30. C Jamal Grady topped the scoring for Youngstown State with 10 points.

At the beginning of the 2nd half, the Penguins scrapped to get back into the game. With 16:10 on the clock, Jamal Grady scored on a driving layup and was fouled. He hit his free throw to convert the 3-point play and put YSU back on top 45-44. With the score tied at 48-48, both teams went ice cold, but the Penguins poor shooting continued longer allowing Detroit to pull away to a 65-53 lead with 4-1/2 minutes to play. The Penguins offense then woke up but they were unable to cut significantly into the Titans’ lead and came out on the short end of a 75-67 final score.

C Jamal Grady scored 22 and PF Aaron Tice and SG/PG Tim Lostetter both scored 10.

“Detroit was a tough place to begin our league play. The Titans came into this game hot. We played well only sporadically so we were unable to hold them off and to come back when we got behind,” said Coach KD Durst. “We had our chances but just couldn’t take advantage of them.”

[PointGuard]

Youngstown State Unimpressive in Win
By Steve Porter

The Penguins failed to score for the first 3 minutes of last night’s game against the Valparaiso Crusaders. But then they caught fire to jump out to a 10-4 lead. But both teams seemed to play at low energy and the half ended with Youngstown State holding a narrow 31-29 lead. C Kent Jones led the Penguins’ scoring with 8 points.

YSU quickly opened a 10 point lead in the 2nd half. Late in the half, Valparaiso came back and took a 3 point lead, but the Penguins rallied to retake the lead. With 3:12 remaining, YSU was on top 57-53. Youngstown State held on to come away with a 65-58 victory. They are now 1-1 in league play.

PG Linehan Murphy and C Kent Jones topped the Penguins’ scoring with 12 points apiece with C/PF Kevin Anderson picking up 10 points.

“Our intensity level was low tonight,” said Coach KD Durst. “Fortunately our bench players picked us up tonight since our five starters only scored 21 points. Even though we had a 25-10 turnover advantage, I’m upset that we let the Crusaders control the boards 34-21.”

[PointGuard]

Penguins Drop Another Road Game
By Kevin Porter

The Milwaukee Panthers, last night’s opponent for the Youngstown State Penguins, came into the game with the best record of any Horizon League team. They sported wins against Oklahoma State, Rhode Island, Miami (OH), and Tulane. And they had a spotless record at home. Four of their starters were averaging in double figures. Prior to the game Coach KD Durst said, “We’re going to have to play extremely well to have a chance against the Panthers.”

With Jamal Grady and Kevin Anderson dominating inside, the Penguins forged ahead by 10 midway through the first half, but the Panthers stormed back to take a 41-37 halftime lead. Grady picked up 12 first half points and Anderson was right behind with 9.

A combination of poor shooting, sloppy play, and horrendous defense in the 2nd half let Milwaukee run away with the game and give the Penguins an 82-63 drubbing.

C Jamal Grady finished the game with 20 points and 7 rebounds. Reserve C/PF Kevin Anderson scored 11. Milwaukee’s SF Jason Minahan scored 20 points.

“We came out flat in the 2nd half and could never recover,” admitted Coach KD Durst. “After playing so well the first 14 minutes of the game, we lost our momentum and the Panthers made us pay. We’re a better team than how we played tonight. We’re going to work on rebuilding the confidence with which we were playing earlier this season.”

[PointGuard]

Penguins’ Fortunes Rebound
By Steve Porter

In the first half, the Penguins put on a clinic in which the entire team systematically took apart the Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix. Hitting 55% of their shots, making just 4 turnovers while forcing the Phoenix to commit 10, and gaining a 19-14 rebounding advantage, YSU slowly but relentlessly ground apart Wisconsin-Green Bay to pull away to a 44-26 halftime lead. The team scored 30 points in the paint with C Jamal Grady picking up 12 points and PF Aaron Tice adding 10.

Youngstown State continued their dominance in the 2nd half, expanding their lead to 29 points before settling for an 85-59 pounding of the Phoenix. YSU outshot Wisconsin-Green Bay 50% to 40%, held a 34-30 rebounding advantage, a 20-7 turnover advantage, and scored 40 points in the paint compared to just 12 by the Phoenix.

C Jamal Grady led the offensive onslaught with 19 points but SF Colin Chambliss scored 16, PF Aaron Tice hit for 14 plus pulled down 9 boards, SG William Swan came off the bench to score 10, and PG Levall Hart dished out 8 assists. SG Romain Perry had a double-double for the Phoenix with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

“This was a great team effort and we got strong contributions from not only our starters but our bench,” said Coach KD Durst. “Hopefully we can use tonight’s effort as a springboard to playing consistently from here on out.”

The Penguins now have a 2-2 Horizon League record and are one game behind 3 teams that are tied for the league lead.

[PointGuard]

Penguins Recruiting Status
By Steve Porter

Youngstown State is continuing to search for the third and last recruit to fill scholarships that will come available next season.

Steve Simmons, YSU’s 1st assistant coach whose primary responsibility is recruiting, confirmed this when he said, “We’re continuing to make contact with a strong list of recruits although we are trying ton conserve our limited remaining budget so we can be aggressive this spring to fill the last scholarship. We are pleased that we have two strong high school seniors who have committed to our program. But both still need to get qualifying SAT scores. We’re focusing primarily on guards right now, but still have some good big men on our list as well. Since early December we’ve even opened our sites on a couple international players. We don’t have the funds to take overt actions with these guys, so yeah we’re doing it on the cheap. But our conversations with them have been positive so we at least have a shot at possibly landing one of them. To my knowledge this is the first time Youngstown State has recruited internationally.”

[PointGuard]

Are Penguins Awakening From Their Slumber?
By Steve Porter

Even though Northern Kentucky has had an up-and-down season thus far, they came into last night’s game with an 8-5 record and were coming off an inspirational 74-72 overtime victory that knocked Cleveland State out of first place in the Horizon League. C Troy Fingelton was scoring 17.9 ppg and SF Jared McDaniel had a 13.3 ppg average. PF Chris Correa was averaging 9.5 ppg but was hitting 72% of his FG attempts. Youngstown State had lost both of its Horizon League road games, so the unanswered question was “can the Penguins win on the road?”

The first half was close early, but then the Penguins tightened their defense and steadily pulled away to take a 43-26 lead to the locker room. Northern Kentucky hit just 35% of their shots and had 13 turnovers in the half while the Penguins knocked down 53% of their FG attempts and turned the ball over just 6 times. C Jamal Grady scored 12 to lead the Penguins offensively, but reserve SG William Swan again was on fire with 10 points in 10 minutes of play.

The Norse cut the lead to 10 points early in the 2nd half, but the Penguins then went on a tear to open a 59-35 lead with 12-1/2 minutes to play. YSU then put on an offensive clinic to trample the Norse 93-62. The Penguins sunk 65% of their FG attempts and 50% of their 3’s. They out-rebounded Northern Kentucky 29-24 and held a 19-12 turnover advantage. YSU scored 40 points in the paint.

C Jamal Grady scored 24 to go along with 7 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal and 2 blocks. SG William Swan popped in 17 points. SF Colin Chambliss scored 12 and pulled down 7 boards. PF Aaron Tice hit for 10 points while grabbing 8 rebounds. The Penguins held C Troy Fingleton to 11 points.

The Penguins are now 3-2 in the Horizon League placing them into a tie for 3rd place a game behind Milwaukee and UIC.

[PointGuard]

Penguins Again Display Potent Offense
By Steve Porter

Youngstown State led from the outset against the Oakland Golden Grizzlies in the first half. At one point the Penguins held a 16 point lead. But Oakland shot well late in the half to cut the Penguins halftime advantage to 45-37. C Jamal Grady scored 11 points to lead YSU.

The Penguins offense continued to click in the 2nd half and their lead grew to as much as 24 points. Hitting 56% of their FG attempts and 53% of their 3’s, YSU cruised to a 98-76 shellacking of Oakland.

C Jamal Grady dropped in 24 points, SF Colin Chambliss hit for 18, reserve SG William Swan scored 14, SG B.J. Dennis notched 12 points, and reserve C/SF Kent Jones added 10.

Their third straight offensive onslaught improved Youngstown State’s Horizon League record to 4-2 and lifted them into a 4-way tie for first place in the league standings.

The success of the Penguins this week was highlighted by C Jamal Grady being selected Horizon League Player of the Week and SF Colin Chambliss again being named as the Horizon League Freshman Player of the Week.

[PointGuard]

Penguins Eke Out Road Win
By Steve Porter

In a game that would break the tie for first place in the Horizon League, UIC scored the first 6 points in the game. But the Penguins fought back and took a 10-8 lead with 14 minutes left in the half. YSU held onto a small lead thereafter. But late in the half, the Penguins went on a 10-0 run to go ahead 37-21 with 1:11 remaining in the half. UIC hit late some 3’s and came back to cut YSU’s lead to 41-29 at the break. C Jamal Grady’s 10 points led the Penguins scoring.

UIC chipped away at the lead in the 2nd half and edged ahead of the Penguins 57-56 with 9-1/2 minutes to play. The lead then continually seesawed back and forth. With 43 seconds left, the game was tied at 74-74. Jamal Grady fouled out with 34 seconds on the clock and UIC made one of two shots to put them on top 75-74. The Penguins missed two shots on their next possession, but PF Aaron Tice successfully put back the 2nd miss and YSU went back on top with 10 seconds to go. The Penguins pressed and while UIC got the ball over midcourt, they were left with a long last-second 3 in desperation that clanked off the rim. The Penguins escaped with a 76-75 victory that gave them a 5-2 league record and put them in sole possession of 1st place in the Horizon League.

C Jamal Grady scored 16 together with 6 rebounds and 4 steals. SG William Swan again propped up the Penguins coming off the bench to score 14 and grab 7 boards. SF Colin Chambliss added 10 points. For the UIC Flames, C Dan Davis scored 20 points.

Coach KD Durst said, “UIC has a very good team so we were fortunate to be able to pull off this win on the road against them. Our bench was a big component of our win by scoring 35 points and pulling down 14 rebounds.”