The Town Crier

[PointGuard]

Panthers Rip Penguins
By Steve Porter

A second straight game on the road had the YSU Penguins taking on the Milwaukee Panthers last night. Unfortunately the Penguins’ defense failed to make the trip in the first half. This allowed the Panthers to his 53% of their shots and pull away to a 44-30 halftime advantage. PF Aaron Tice and SF Rick Martin both scored 7 points in the first half.

The second half was a near replay of the first with Youngstown State stumbling to a lopsided 89-62 loss. Milwaukee outshot the Penguins 56% to 36%.

PF Aaron Tice scored 15 and C Jamal Grady had 9 points and 9 rebounds for YSU. Milwaukee’s PF Chris Grant had a double-double (12 points and 11 rebounds).

[PointGuard]

Penguins and Flames Go to Overtime
By Steve Porter

Trying to avenge a drubbing earlier this season by UIC, the Penguins took on the first-place Flames last night at Beeghly Center. YSU jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the first 3 minutes of play. But the Flames showed why they’re on top of the Horizon League by capturing the lead 6 minutes later. Later in the half the Flames caught fire, scorching the nets by hitting 54% of their FG attempts to pull away to a 39-33 halftime lead. The two opposing centers carried their respective offenses. Jamal Grady scored 14 for the Penguins while Dan Davis dropped in 16 for the Flames.

In the second half, YSU scrappily fought back to take a 50-49 lead, but then the Flames went on an 11-0 run. But rather than folding the Penguins came back with their own 12-1 run to retake the lead. UIC then carved out 7-point lead but the Penguins got within 3 with 41 seconds to play. The Flames turned the ball over with 16 seconds to go. Tim Lostetter put up a quick 3 that missed the mark but YSU maintained control. After a time out with 9 seconds remaining, Lostetter lofted another 3 that swished through the nets to send the game into overtime tied 80-80.

The Flames scored the first 3 points in OT but then Aaron Tice hit 2 free throws to cut the lead to 83-82. Then Jamal Grady blocked a shot by Dan Davis. On the succeeding possession, Aaron Tice drove to the hoop and laid it in to put YSU on top 84-83. Lonnie Holt was called for a foul and UIC hit both shots to give them a single point lead. Aaron Tice hit another a jumper from 10 feet to make it 85-84 in favor of the Penguins. Lonnie Holt was called for another foul with 2:19 to play. Again the Flames converted both foul shots. Trailing 87-86, YSU called a time out 26 seconds to go. The give and go worked perfectly with Josh Jones dropping in a 12 footer to put the Penguins ahead 88-87 with 21 seconds left. The Flames couldn’t get off their designed play following a time out and were forced to work the ball around outside. But J.R. Sides threw up a desperation shot from far beyond the 3 point line that went off the backboard and into the basket as the buzzer was sounding. Final score: UIC-90, YSU-88.

C Jamal Grady scored 24 and yanked down 8 boards, PF Aaron Tice had a double-double (17 points and 12 rebounds), PG Tim Lostetter scored 13 and had 6 assists, and SF Chad Delzell added 12 points. For UIC, Dan Davis scored 26 points.

When asked about his team’s 4-7 league record, Coach Durst responded, “We’ve lost some tough games, so with a little luck it could be reversed. Tonight’s a case-in-point. We played the top team in the league even and had them on the ropes with about 20 seconds to go in the OT. Then we play some tight defense without fouling to keep them from working the ball inside or getting a clear outside shot. That 3 at the end was a prayer that UIC got answered. We’re sick about the loss but will recover. We may not end up in the upper echelons of the league standings but might surprise in the league tourney. And a positive out of tonight’s game was the exceptionally strong performance of our two inside starters. Grady and Tice both played a helluva game.”

[PointGuard]

Penguins Lose Again
By Steve Porter

The first half was an offensive show with Penguins hitting 62% and Wright State hitting 56% of their shots. The Raiders led 49-47 at the break. The refs put 3 of YSU’s starters on the bench in foul trouble for most of the half. Substitutes Rick Martin and Kent Jones led the Penguins’ scoring with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

The game was tightly contested during the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half. But Youngstown State then had a flurry of turnovers that the Raiders turned into easy scoring opportunities and quickly pulled away to a 15 point lead. The Penguins tried to recover but were unable to substantially cut into the Raiders’ lead and fell 95-83. The loss dropped YSU into next to last place in the Horizon League.

SF Rick Martin led the Penguins’ scoring with 16 while PG Tim Lostetter hit for 12, and centers Jamal Grady and Kent Jones both added 10.

Coach Durst was unavailable for comment following the game. Players and staff went directly from the locker room to the team bus.

[Wayne23]

People around town have been seen wearing penguin costumes and carrying signs that say, "Dump Durst."

[PointGuard]

Oh, now that's Dursty!!!!!!

[PointGuard]

What’s wrong with the Youngstown State Penguins? A team that was expected to compete for the Horizon League title has instead sunk into the depths of the league. The team’s defense has crumbled during their present 3-game losing streak during which their opponents have averaged over 91 points per game.

While it’s unconfirmed, I’ve heard from reliable sources that there are a couple players on the team who are feuding. Is Coach Durst having chemistry problems that are impacting the team? The coaches and players are mum about this.

Meanwhile fans are not very happy that the team is not performing to their expectations. Attendance at home games is down.

Vic Morrissey, YSU’s AD, remains very supportive of Coach Durst, at least publicly. Until Durst has a chance to have the team composed mostly of his own recruits, I don’t feel anyone can be overly critical.

Durst does still have a thin skin, though. So he becomes distant after I’ve written a column that he views as negative about the team. But screw that, I’m not going to be anyone’s stooge. Unfortunately, there's this old guy, Wayne (the pain) Moses, whose been around the paper for ages. I think he's afraid the paper is going to let him go in one of its many budget-cutting moves. So he's been sucking up to guys around the university and athletic staff. I think he wants to make a move on taking my job as sports reporter as a way of hanging on here. The guy knows nothing about sports though...and absolutely nothing about basketball. What's more he thinks we should still be using typewriters rather than keyboards. The paper let him write up a puff piece about YSU's athletic department..pure suck up material making Morrissey seem so nice to his staff and highlighting his charitable work, like he's the second-coming of Mother Teresa. I know some things about Morrissey that would make Mother Teresa blush.

[PointGuard]

Youngstown State Offense Comes Alive
By Steve Porter

PF Aaron Tice scored the Penguins firsts 9 points against the Cleveland State Vikings. YSU’s offense sizzled throughout the entire half as they hit 67% of their FG attempts. The team also held a 15-8 rebounding advantage and a 10-4 turnover advantage. The Penguins went to the locker room with a commanding 56-31 lead. C Kent Jones hit for 14 points, PF Aaron Tice scored 11, and SG Josh Jones tossed in 10.

YSU held the Vikings at bay in the 2nd half and won with ease 90-67. The win broke the Penguins 3-game losing streak and moved them into a tie for 7th place in the Horizon League.

SG Josh Jones and PF Aaron Tice dropped in 17 points and C Kent Jones added 16.

Coach KD Durst praised the effort of Kent Jones, “Kent has come off the bench in the past two games after Jamal Grady has gotten into foul trouble and scored 26 points in those games. He’s really amped up his game lately. It’s a pleasure to watch him develop and mature. I really appreciate how Jamal has worked with both him and Aaron Tice to help those two freshmen become key players on our team.”

[PointGuard]

Penguins Fall to The Phoenix
By Steve Porter

The Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix came into the game against Youngstown State with a 6-game win streak that had propelled them into 2nd place in the Horizon League. SG Ross Lang led the Phoenix with his 18.2 ppg scoring.

Ross Lang scored 16 and the Phoenix hit 71% of their shots in the first half enroute to a 45-37 halftime advantage. PG Tim Lostetter hit for 12 points to lead the Penguins’ scoring.

The Penguins cut the lead to just 2 points early in the 2nd half, but were unable to catch up. They then folded late in the half and were crushed 87-69.

PG Tim Lostetter scored 18 and C Jamal Grady hit for 17. The Phoenix’ Ross Lang dropped in 25 points.

[PointGuard]

Penguins Top Golden Grizzlies
By Steve Porter

Youngstown State put together a solid first half and led the visiting Oakland Golden Grizzlies 38-26 at the break in front of a sparse hometown crowd. The Penguins continued to dominate the Golden Grizzlies in the 2nd half and came away with an 83-65 thumping of Oakland.

PF Aaron Tice led the Penguins offense with 22 points while PF Rich Bramwell scored 12, SG Josh Jones tossed in 11, and SF Chad Delzell added 10. PG Dante Lay popped in 20 points for Oakland.

Aaron Tice said, “We worked in practice on getting the ball down deep inside to try to take advantage of what we thought was an interior advantage for us. It worked as my teammates kept feeding me and Rich (Bramwell) inside. It was then just a matter of us putting the ball in the hoop. We’re fighting for some respect in the Horizon League at this point.”

[PointGuard]

Penguins Long Season Continues
By Steve Porter

As the YSU Penguins continued to try to climb up into the middle of the Horizon League, they travelled to take on the Northern Kentucky Norse. Reserve SG Lonnie Holt stayed back nursing a strained hamstring.

The Penguins led through the initial stages of the first half but midway through, the Norse took control and hit 58% of their shots to streak away to a 49-33 halftime advantage. C Jamal Grady was YSU’s top scorer in the half with 7 points.

In the 2nd half, the Penguins had trouble hitting their shots as their shooting for the entire game tumbled to just 35%. That prevented YSU from seriously threatening. They fell and fell hard to the tune of 79-59.

PG Tim Lostetter and PF Aaron Tice led the Penguin scoring with 13 points apiece while C Jamal Grady added 10. SF Chad Delzell pulled down 10 rebounds but failed to score. For Northern Kentucky, C Troy Fingelton scored 16 while grabbing 10 boards.

The Penguins are now tied for 7th place with a 6-10 league record.