The Town Crier

[PointGuard]

Penguins Roll Ball (State)
By Steve Porter

The Penguins scored 12 unanswered points in the first 2-1/2 minutes of play. Their opponent, the Ball State Cardinals finally scored 30 seconds later. YSU continued their onslaught and with 6 minutes left in the first half, they opened a 20 point lead at 36-16. The half ended with the Penguins on top 46-28. SF Chris Chambliss scorched the nets for 14 points.

Youngstown State continued its domination of the Cardinals in the 2nd half even though Coach Durst played his bench extensively and won going away 86-62. The Penguins hit 51% of their FG attempts and 57% of their 3’s (13 of 23 attempts). They held Ball State’s shooting to 40% and also forced 17 turnovers by the Cardinals while making just 8 themselves. The win improved YSU’s record to 4-1.

SF Colin Chambliss scored 20 points in 20 minutes on the court. C Will O’Neil scored 10 while dishing out 7 assists and getting 3 steals.

“Our guys came back after playing poorly in our last game, to attack from the beginning and then kept the pressure on Ball State the entire game,” said Coach KD Durst.

[PointGuard]

Penguins Take On Big-10
By Steve Porter

The Big-10’s Northwestern University Wildcats (2-2) visited last night to take on the 4-1 Youngstown State Penguins.

PG Pat White picked up 3 quick fouls sending him to the bench after just 4 minutes of play with the Wildcats on top 9-7. After Northwestern held a small lead throughout much of the first half, the Penguins overtook them late and pulled away to take a 46-38 lead to the locker room. The Penguins outshot the Wildcats 52% to 36% and held a 9-5 turnover advantage. C Will O’Neil scored 13, grabbed 5 boards, and had 3 steals in the half.

The Penguins immediately established a double digit lead in the 2nd half and gradually expanded it to as much as 22 points before settling for an easy 93-77 victory. YSU hit 52% of their shots compared to 40% for Northwestern, and the Penguins made just 10 turnovers while the Wildcats were charged with 17 turnovers.

C Will O’Neil had a double-double with 27 points and 10 rebounds as well as getting 4 steals. C/PF Andre Lilly and SG Matt Angner both scored 11 while SG B. J. Dennis added 10.

O’Neil’s big game was enough to earn him Horizon League Player of the Week honors.

[PointGuard]

Penguins Take On ACC
By Steve Porter

For the 2nd straight game Youngstown State’s opponent was from a power conference. This time they travelled to take on the ACC’s Virginia Tech Hokies. The Hokies came into the game with a 4-2 record.

PG Pat White hit a 3 on the Penguins first possession, but they then watched Virginia Tech run off 14 straight points as the Hokies’ fans made things tough on YSU. They then fell behind 21-6. They then cut the lead to 8 but Virginia Tech then began to bury the Penguins again. They then kept the Penguins on their heels the entire half and held a 41-26 advantage at the break. PG Pat White led the scoring for YSU with 11 points.

The Hokies continued to dominate the Penguins in the 2nd half. Any time YSU cut into their lead, they simply pulled away again. When the buzzer sounded, the Penguins were on the short end of a 75-57 score.

PG Pat White with 20 points was the only Penguin to score in double figures. All 5 starters for Virginia Tech scored in double figures with C Matt Beasley getting a double-double (13 points and 10 rebounds.)

[CoachC]

Jim Rome is interested in what you say and would like to learn more. Jim Rome would like to learn more.

[Wayne23]

All roads lead to Rome.

[PointGuard]

Defense Key to Penguins Victory
By Steve Porter

UNC Greensboro presented the Penguins with a challenge since the Spartans entered the game with 4 players averaging in double figures and another just under 10 ppg. SG William Bell led their scoring with 16.7 ppg.

The Penguins applied a staunch defense early allowing the Spartans to hit just 1 of their first 11 shots so that YSU led 13-3 after 6-1/2 minutes of play. Even though UNC Greensboro began hitting some shots, they still were limited to knocking down just 29% of their FG attempts in the first half and sunk just 1 of 15 from beyond the arc. Both teams made just 1 of 5 free throw attempts. But YSU sank 49% of their FG’s and sported a 37-22 advantage at the break. PG Pat White and C Will O’Neil both scored 6 points for the Penguins.

Youngstown State expanded their lead to 20 points after 4 minutes of play in the 2nd half. The Penguins went on to roll to an easy 80-58 stomping of the Spartans. YSU outshot UNC Greensboro 52% to 35% and held a 43-34 rebounding advantage. The win improved the Penguins season record to 6-2.

Leading the scoring for YSU was PG Pat White with 20 points. C Will O’Neil scored a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. SF Chris Chambliss hit for 13 points to go along with 9 boards.

“Getting a big lead allowed us to get our entire bench onto the court and give them some good playing time,” said Coach KD Durst. “We played solidly defensively the entire game, but our offense was a little streaky. Our starters all shot well though.” [The starters hit 67% of their shots.]

An incident after the game prompted a quick response by Beeghly Center venue security. A strange man attempted to rush on the court toward Coach KD Durst as he headed toward the locker room. Security tackled the man before he could get to the coach and subdued him as he screamed, “Everyone talks to Rome!” As additional security personnel intervened, he was dragged from the floor, hollering, “Get your freakin’ hands off me! It’s Rome, you hear. Rome! Rome rules!” Security Chief Roger Rarebit later reported, “The guy was like a madman. He just kept shouting and frothing from the mouth. We turned him over to police so he could be questioned and his mental state evaluated. I’m proud of my staff’s quick reactions and how they protected Coach Durst.”

Next week Youngstown State completes it pre-conference schedule by travelling to Palo Alto, California to take on the 7-3 Stanford Cardinal. Coach KD Durst said, “Stanford is going to be a big challenge for us. They’ve got a history of producing strong basketball teams and this year seems to be a continuation of that success. If we want to have any chance of beating them on their own court, we have to play at the top of our game.”

[PointGuard]

Penguins Take On The Pac-12
By Steve Porter

Stanford and Youngstown State kept the game close throughout the entire first half even though the Penguins didn’t shoot well (35%). The score at the end of the half was 37-35 in favor of the Cardinal. PG Pat White led YSU’s scoring with 9 points.

The 2nd half was a continuation of the first as neither team could take control. With 9 minutes to go, the Penguins took their biggest lead of the night at 64-58. Then with 5 minutes remaining, C Will O’Neil sunk 2 free throws to put YSU on top 72-63. Stanford cut the lead to 6 with 1-1/2 minutes to go. But Stanford was then forced to foul and the Penguins pulled away for a bit 80-68 upset on the road to the Cardinal. The win gave them a 7-2 pre-conference record. Both teams hit 40% of their shots but Youngstown State controlled the boards 41-30 and held a 13-8 turnover advantage that allowed them to get more shots off.

C Will O’Neil scored 20 and grabbed 9 boards. SG Matt Angner came off the bench to have his best game in his short career at YSU with 19 points. PG Pat White dropped in 13 points and dished out 7 assists. SF Colin Chambliss added 10 points.

“Even though we pulled away a little in the latter part of the game, this was an exceptionally exciting game the entire way,” said Coach KD Durst. “I’m really proud of how our team hung in their against a talented Stanford team. There were a few points in the game when I was afraid the Cardinal might break it open, but our guys stepped up big each and every time. We didn’t let any of their players break out and we held their top scorer this season to just 5 points. We kept their 3 top scorers this season from getting good shots and that resulted in their hitting just 8 of 29 shots.”

[PointGuard]

Horizon League Play Beginning for Penguins
By Steve Porter

Next week the Youngstown State basketballers begin Horizon League play as they try to extend their 3 consecutive seasons atop the Horizon League. The Penguins completed pre-conference play with an impressive 7-2 record. “Before we began play this season, if you’d told me we would come away with a 7-2 record in a season when we significantly upgraded the quality of our schedule, I would have thought you were being overly optimistic. But our guys really played well together. We got excellent play from our starters, but the depth of our bench was a key as well. I’m excited to begin playing Horizon League opponents.”

The team averaged 77.6 ppg (53rd best in the nation) and gave up just 68.0 ppg (91st best in Division 1). They out-rebounded their opponents 37.7 rpg (24th best in the country) to 34.6 rpg. Another key was that the team only averaged 11.1 turnovers per game which is 22nd lowest amongst all Division 1 teams.

While scoring is spread out well among the entire team, C Will O’Neil leads with 16.8 ppg followed by PG Pat White’s 10.9 ppg. O’Neil also is the team’s leading rebounder with 7.3 rpg and White’s 6.3 apg is best on the team.

“Pat White has really stepped up his game this season and is doing a great job of directing our team and finding open men,” said Coach Durst. “Will O’Neil continues to be the anchor of our team, but he isn’t having to score quite as much as last season due to others putting more points on the board. Whereas interior play has been our cornerstone in previous seasons, we’ve been getting good offense both inside and outside this season so we’re more balanced. This improved distribution puts a lot more pressure on our opponents.”

While the Penguins have shown strength in pre-conference play, other Horizon League teams have been far less successful. Only one other team, the Detroit Titans who are 5-4, has a better than .500 record. Durst was unwilling to predict how his team would do in league play, saying, “It seems that every season, we see Horizon League teams that have lackluster pre-conference records and then come on to perform well in league play. And playing on the road always is difficult so you can’t look at W-L records or player and team stats and make predictions on how teams will perform. We also know we have big targets painted on our backs since everyone wants to knock us off what has been our top perch the past few seasons. Our league schedule gives us a challenge early.”

[PointGuard]

Shaky Start for Penguins in League Opener
By Steve Porter

The Valparaiso Crusaders came into last night’s game at Youngstown with a 3-7 record, but one of those wins was against Baylor and 3 of their losses were against Washington, #2 Louisville, and UCLA. Don Davis, Valparaiso’s senior center, appears to have blossomed this season into their go-to guy offensively. He’s averaging 19.5 ppg and has scored more than 30 points in two of their 10 games.

JC transfer Matt Angner started at SG for Youngstown State and scored the team’s first 7 points in the game. But the rest of the team missed all 8 of their shots and had 3 turnovers allowing the Crusaders to take an 11-7 lead after 8 minutes of play. While the Penguins shooting improved somewhat, they still only hit 31% of their FG attempts in the half and trailed 33-25 at the break. Angner’s 7 points led the team’s scoring.

The Penguins came onto the court in the 2nd half and began to trim the lead. With 15:05 remaining, they tied the game at 41-41 when after working the ball around the perimeter, Matt Angner fired the ball into Will O’Neil who faked out his defender and drove to the basket for a thunderous dunk that brought the hometown crowd to its feet. Although poor shooting continued to hamper their efforts, the Penguins forged a 53-49 advantage with 7-1/2 minutes left in the game as their defense tightened. YSU slogged on from there to forge a 71-61 victory. Youngstown State uncharacteristically made 16 turnovers, but they forced the Crusaders to turn the ball over 18 times and their defense late in the game reduced Valparaiso’s shooting to 38% for the entire game.

C Will O’Neil scored 14 and pulled down 9 rebounds. SG Matt Angner finished with 11 points and PF/C Andre Lilly scored 10 and grabbed 9 boards. PG Pat White scored 9 and had 8 assists. For Valparaiso, C Dan Davis scored 20 to continue but had little offensive support from his teammates.

“Valparaiso gave us fits. If not for our defense, we wouldn’t have been able to pull this game out. With two tough road games coming up next, we’re going to have to play a lot better,” said Coach KD Durst. “On a positive note Matt Angner had his 2nd consecutive strong game and is really beginning to get a good sense of our offensive and defensive schemes. He seems to have a nose for the basket which is something we’ve needed at SG since I got here.”

[CoachC]

Coach K.D. Kurst has ignored Jim Rome. Coach Kurst has ignored Jim Rome. Rome is burning.












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