The Town Crier

[PointGuard]

I just checked the stats for the Penguins. Their guards, other than Ryan Surpin, definitely need to improve their shooting. The good news is Surpin is hitting 52% of his FG attempts including 48% of his 3’s. But the bad news is: Josh Jones (37% FG%, 22% 3P%), Tim Lostetter (28% FG%, 8% 3P%), Jermaine Harrington (31% FG%, 17% 3P%). [b]Jones [/b]needs to stop shooting from outside the 3-point line on the right wing. He’s hit just 1 of 19 shots from there. Harrington has hit just 1 of 11 from the same area of the court. Lostetter is 1 of 11 from just outside the top of the key. I’m not sure if the guards are simply poor shooters or if they’ve just exhibited poor shot selection. But if there is no improvement, that kind of shooting is going to torpedo the Penguins as their season continues.

[PointGuard]

Damn, think I’m going crazy. Last night I had this dream that I was playing for Youngstown State. Only thing was that I kept getting charging fouls called on me. Charge after charge after charge. I was like a bull in a china closet, a demolition derby car bashing into other cars, a bowling ball knocking down pins. The dream went on so long I should have fouled out of the game 2 or 3 times. And I never did make a basket. I guess my high school coach was right about me.

What the hell? Who has dreams about charging fouls? I’m telling you about this, but certainly won’t let anyone know at the newspaper, since they’d hang it over my head forever.

[PointGuard]

Youngstown State Topples Stony Brook
By Steve Porter

Last night the Penguins travelled to New York to take on the Stony Brook Seawolves who entered the game with a 3-3 record.

Playing soundly, the Penguins led throughout most of the first half, but the refs rewarded the home team and allowed the Seawolves to pull ahead 33-32 at the break. PF Kareem Toole scored 8 points in the game’s first 8 minutes but then was relegated to the bend due to foul trouble.

The two teams played to a 41-41 tie midway through the 2nd half, but then the Penguins pulled away to take a 10 point lead with 6 minutes to play. Stony Brook cut the lead to 3 with a minute to go, but the Penguins hung on to win 69-64.

C Jamal Grady scored 13, PF Kareem Toole added 12, and C Steven Puzey hit for 11 (plus had 6 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks). Youngstown State’s record now stands at 5-3.

[PointGuard]

Lynn, my present girlfriend, asked me today when I’m going to look for a promotion or a new job. That caught me unaware. I hadn’t really even considered it. I go to work every day and do what’s expected of me. Turn out some columns. Fill some space in the sports section. I’m satisfied. I finally said to her, “Why should I do something else?” She said that people need to be moving forward. Doing the same thing for 6 years isn’t moving forward. Well that resulted in an unpleasant argument and me storming out. I suspect she will be following her thought-process of today and…moving forward from me very soon.

I’ve had a series of girlfriends. No long termers and no one very serious. While I was ruminating about our argument, I got thinking about their names. The last ones (in reverse order of appearance)…Lynn, Ann, Jill, Grace, Jane. All one syllable. None named Danielle, Alexandra, or Stephanie. I looked up the most popular girl baby names in the year I was born. Numbers 1 through 5: Jessica, Ashley, Brittany, Amanda, Samantha. All the names in the Top 50 had 2 or 3 syllables. That’s right, no one-syllable names. Seems that Youngstown is out of step with America and goes for plain names. Hell, my folks named me STEVE, not STEVEN.

[Wayne23]

Time to move up to a two syllable girl friend!

[PointGuard]

Time to move up to a two syllable girl friend!

I don't know if I'm ready to go to 2nd syllable.

[PointGuard]

Penguins Topped by Highlanders
By Steve Porter

The first half between Youngstown State and the Radford Highlanders was sloppy with a total of 26 turnovers. The Penguins held a lead early but Radford came on toward the end of the half to take a 30-28 lead to the locker room.

In the 2nd half, Radford zeroed in on the net, hitting 51% for the entire game. The Highlanders pulled away to drop the Penguins 74-58.

C Steven Puzey had a big game for Youngstown State with 18 points and 8 rebounds.

[PointGuard]

I finally got a chance to talk with Coach Durst for a little while. He said he and the team were happy to be back home after 4 straight games on the road. He also said he was happy to have been able to come away with a split. He’s concerned about their upcoming game against Toledo, though. Even though it’s a home game, the Rockets are a step up in strength and talent from the teams they’ve played thus far.

When asked about the strength of his team, Durst said thus far it primarily revolved around his center and point guard position. Puzey and Grady have combined to score about 20 ppg and pull down 11 rpg at the center position and Surpin is solidifying the offense from his point guard position plus being the team’s top scorer with nearly 12 ppg.

He said the weakest aspects for his team have been turnovers, 3-point shooting, and defense. They’ve been working hard on defense and ball control in practice and he felt it will result in improvement as the season progresses. He’s less positive about their outside shooting since that is an individual skill that is likely to develop more slowly. I got the sense that they will try working the ball inside more and taking fewer outside shots.

[PointGuard]

Penguins Fly Higher Than Rockets
By Steve Porter

Youngstown State jumped out to a lead and extended it to 20-10 after just 6-1/2 minutes of play by outhustling the Toledo Rockets. Toledo then chopped the lead to just 3 points, but the Penguins were able to recover and rebuild a substantial lead and finally finishing the half ahead by a 44-31 score. C Jamal Grady scored 10 points to lead the Penguins offensively.

The Penguins came back even stronger in the 2nd half, shooting well and dominating the boards. They steadily expanded their lead to drub the Rockets 86-68. The win improved Youngstown State’s record to 6-4.

Besides outshooting the Rockets 52% to 41%, the Penguins controlled the boards, hauling down 39 rebounds compared to Toledo’s 29. Jamal Grady hit 12 of 17 shots in the 14 minutes he was on the floor to finish with 25 points as well as grabbing 7 rebounds. PG Ryan Surpin chipped in 14 points while dishing out 7 assists and pulling down 6 boards. C Steven Puzey scored 10 points and had 9 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals.

During the post-game interview, Coach K.D. Durst praised his team for never letting down throughout the entire game. “I was proud of how our team stepped up their game tonight and kept their foot down on the accelerator against the toughest team we’ve played thus far this season. Our two centers both had outstanding games, combining for 35 points and 16 rebounds.” But Durst reserved his highest compliments for his team’s defense, rebounding, and ball control. “The guys really pulled together defensively and kept the Rockets under control throughout the game. That together with how they blocked out on the boards and also finished with just 11 turnovers were keys to our winning tonight.” Asked about his team’s 3-point shooting which has been a weakness throughout the season thus far, Durst said, “You know, our guys still have a long way to go to alleviate what seems to be a team-wide mental block on shooting from beyond the arc during games. But tonight I saw some light at the end of the tunnel. We hit 5 of 14 of our 3-point attempts. Not great, but an improvement. We’re going to continue to work on it so hopefully our shooting from out there becomes a strength at some point. Also tonight we were effective at working the ball inside, so that was a big plus. We scored 44 points in the paint!”

Not unsurprisingly, C Jamal Grady picked up his 2nd Freshman Player of the Week award for the Horizon League, based on his 25 point, 7 rebound game against Toledo.

[PointGuard]

Penguins 6-4 Entering League Play
By Steve Porter

Next week the Youngstown State Penguins begin Horizon League play. Their pre-conference record is 6-4. Here’s how they have fared thus far this season:

East Tennessee State, L 64-76
@ Longwood, L 68-89
SMU, W 77-75
@ Niagara, W 76-64
Morehead State, W 71-64
@ Elon, W 85-72
@ SE Louisiana, L 63-84
@ Stony Brook, W 69-64
@ Radford, L 58-74
Toledo, W 86-68

As they were leaving practice yesterday, I caught up with 3 of the team’s seniors. Kareem Toole said, “We’re excited to get into Horizon League play. We played pretty well during the pre-conference segment of our schedule, particularly since 6 of our 10 games were on the road. I think we’re gelling as a team and have begun to more effectively employ Coach Durst’s strategies. So I’m optimistic about how we will do in league play.” Ryan Surpin expressed, “We were too tentative in our early games this season, but have been playing more confidently as the season has progressed. This is my fourth and last year here, and believe me, it’s a lot more fun winning rather than losing regularly as we’d done during my first 3 years.” Toole added, “Coach D has been working our tails off in practice. And Ryan has taken command of our team during games and is directing our offense so that we’re turning the ball over less and taking better shots.” Steven Puzey then commented, “Not only that, but Coach Durst has worked with us to get better position and block out more effectively on the boards. He keeps a running tally of how we’re faring against our opponents on the boards and gives us hell if we let them get the best of us.”