The Town Crier

[PointGuard]

Horizon League Tournament—Championship
By Steve Porter

Few would have predicted that the championship game would have the #1 seed up against the #10 seed. But both teams have dominated in their tournament games, so something had to give when they came up against each other.

#10 Milwaukee Panthers (11-19, 5-13) vs Youngstown State Penguins (23-6, 14-4): The Penguins beat the Panthers twice this season by nearly identical scores, 92-69 and 92-66. But Milwaukee won by 27 over Wright State and then easily handled #2 seed Detroit and #3 seed Oakland. C Eugene Danielson had 2 huge offensive games and then PG Shantay Toliver was an offensive juggernaut in their other win.

The Penguins shot well early taking to take a lead that was reduced as the refs called a series of fouls against YSU sending the Panthers to the line frequently. With 5-1/2 minutes to go, Milwaukee took its first lead at 24-23 after converting two foul shots. The Penguins immediately recaptured the lead and went on a 12-0 run. The half ended with YSU holding a 37-28 lead. The Penguins’ defense limited Milwaukee’s shooting to 27%. PF Aaron Tice scored 9 points. C Eugene Danielson scored 14 for the Panthers.

The refs again tagged Youngstown State with a series of fouls early in the 2nd half and Milwaukee cut the lead to just 5 points. The Penguins scored 17 unanswered points giving themselves breathing room with a 56-34 lead. YSU then never let up and continued to pull away as their defense stymied the Panthers. When the buzzer sounded, Youngstown State had stomped Milwuakee 81-53 to win the Horizon League Championship. YSU outshot the Panthers 54% to 33% and held a 22-10 turnover advantage.

PG Pat White had a double-double with 17 points and 10 assists as well as getting 3 steals and 2 blocks. C Will O’Neil and PF Aaron Tice both scored 13. SF Colin Chambliss added 11. C Eugene Danielson scored 18 for Milwaukee.

“Milwaukee made a couple runs that put a scare into us, but each time it was gut-check time for our guys and they responded with huge runs that gave us solid leads,” said Coach KD Durst.

PF Aaron Tice exuberantly exclaimed, “We’re going back to March Madness! We’ve accomplished all but one goal now. We focused on every game we played and have won 24 games thus far, we finished in 1st place in the league standings, and we won the conference tournament. We’re likely to be viewed as underdogs in the NCAA Tourney, so now we just need to crank off some upset wins there.”

[PointGuard]

Penguins Player and Team Stats
By Steve Porter

Coach KD Durst’s Youngstown State Penguins have a 24-6 record and their RPI is 36th best in Division I. They have averaged 77.8 ppg (32nd highest in Division I) while only allowing their opponents to average 66.3 ppg (22nd lowest in Division I). They’ve out-rebounded their opponents 35.1 rpg to 31.3 rpg and have averaged just 11.8 topg while forcing their opponents to make 17.0 topg.
Here are the individual player statistics for their roster:

[PointGuard]

Horizon League Teams in Tournaments
By Steve Porter

When Youngstown State won the Horizon League Tournament, that cemented their inclusion in the NCAA Tournament. But once the brackets were announced for that tournament, the three other tournaments (NIT, CBI, and CIT) were able to set up their tournaments. Each of those tournaments picked one Horizon League team to participate. Here’s how the four Horizon League teams are seeded and who they will play in round 1 of their respective tournament:

NCAA:
Youngstown State (11th seed in Midwest Region) will play #6 seed and 15th ranked Cincinnati

NIT:
Wisconsin-Green Bay (7th seed in South Region) will play #2 seed Villanova

CBI:
Oakland (4th seed in West Region) will play #5 seed S.E. Missouri State

CIT:
Detroit (8th seed in East Region) will play #1 seed North Carolina St.

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Post-Season Tournament Game Summaries
By Steve Porter

CIT Round 1: #8 seed Detroit Titans (17-11) vs #1 seed North Carolina State Wolfpack (17-13)—Led by SF Dwayne Poge’s two 3 pointers, the Titans jumped out on top 10-2 after just over 2 minutes of play. Detroit maintained a 4-9 point lead until the Wolfpack caught up and took a lead with 3-1/2 minutes left in the first half. The lead see-sawed back and forth with NC State holding a thin 43-42 margin at the break. Detroit’s PF Copley Scott led all scorers with 10 points. NC State pulled away in the middle part of the 2nd half and opened a 70-50 lead with 10-1/2 minutes to play. Detroit was unable to make a significant dent in the deficit. The Wolfpack whipped the Titans 90-72 as NC State outshot Detroit 52% to 42% and held a 17-5 turnover advantage. Detroit’s C William Rogers had a double-double (15 points and 10 rebounds). For NC State C Ericson Lazosky scored 20 and pulled down 9 boards.

NIT Round 1: #7 seed Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix (17-12) vs #2 seed Villanova Wildcats (17-13)—The Phoenix hung with Villanova for the first 3 minutes but then the Wildcats began to pull away. At the midpoint of the first half, Wisconsin-Green Bay trailed by 13. The Phoenix then tightened their defense and closed to within 9 at 45-36 when the half ended. C Steve Lawson scored 17 for Villanova while C Pete Richmond had 12 for Wisconsin-Green Bay. After 4 minutes of play in the 2nd half the Phoenix, led by PG Valter Morris and C Pete Richmond, had cut Villanova’s lead to 53-48. But with 11 minutes to go Villanova had stretched their lead to 16. The Phoenix continued to hang in the game though and with 9-1/2 minutes to go the score was 71-64 and Villanova’s home crowd was quieted. With 3 minutes to go there still was a 7 point difference and the Phoenix had possession coming out of a time out. Valter Morris got free for a 15 foot jumper that went clearly through the net making it 84-79. The next 3 possessions ended with the teams alternating with missed 3 point shots, but then the Wildcats fouled Pete Richmond inside for a 1-and-1 with 1:25 to play. Richmond missed the free throw but after rebounding Villanova threw the ball away as they tried to take time off the clock. Wisconsin-Green Bay called a time out to set up a 3 point shot but it went off the rim. ‘Nova was intentionally fouled and converted both free throws. The Phoenix hit a quick shot to make it 86-81 with 33 seconds on the clock and fouled again. This time Villanova made only one free throw. The Phoenix called a time out and again missed their resulting 3 point attempt. After a quick series of changes in possessions, Wisconsin Green Bay tipped in a shot at the buzzer but it only reduced Villanova’s winning margin to 87-83. Villanova’s C Steve Lawson had an awesome game, scoring 30, grabbing 8 boards, dishing out 3 assists, and making 3 steals and 2 blocks. SG Pat Alexander scored 21 for the Wildcats. Both C Pete Richmond and PG Valter Morris scored 18 for Wisconsin-Green Bay with Richmond garnering 10 rebounds and Morris having 7 assists.

CBI round 1: #5 seed S.E. Missouri State Redhawks (17-11) vs #4 seed Oakland Golden Grizzlies (17-12)—Oakland maintained a small lead throughout the first half which ended with the Golden Grizzlies holding a 37-33 edge. Oakland expanded their lead to 10 early in the 2nd half, but the Redhawks then began to reel them in. With 27 seconds remaining, the Redhawks hit a contested 12 footer that reduced Oakland’s lead to a single point. The Golden Grizzlies missed the front end of a one-and-one and S.E. Missouri State brought it up court with a chance to win. But Oakland’s SF Chris Lovett stole the ball and passed it up court to a streaking Keanan Cole who jammed it down to ice the game. Oakland pulled out a 72-69 victory to send them on to round 2. C Gary Johnson led Oakland offensively with 15 points. SG Donte Jones scored 20 for S.E. Missouri State.

CBI round 2: #4 seed Oakland Golden Grizzlies (18-12) vs #1 seed Duke Blue Devils (15-14)—Oakland took an early 5 point lead, but that dissolved midway through the first half as Duke’s defense shut down the Golden Grizzlies. By the end of the half, Duke was on top 40-27. The Blue Devils then blew Oakland away in the 2nd half and opened as much as a 31 point lead. The final score was: Duke-79, Oakland-51. Duke out-rebounded Oakland 41-29 and held a 22-6 turnover advantage. SF Wayne Webber scored 19 for Duke and PF John McKarney had a double-double (10 points and 13 rebounds). SG Donte Ferguson put in 13 points to lead Oakland.

NCAA Round 1:

Penguins Plucked by Bearcats
By Steve Porter

Youngstown State (24-6) faced a big challenge when they faced the #15-ranked and #6-seeded Cincinnati Bearcats (23-9) in round 1 of the NCAA Tournament. Cincinnati was led by their hot-shooting outside duo of PG Bobby Harrington (21.8 ppg) and SG Todd Johnson (16.0 ppg).

Cincinnati opened the scoring, but with 16:52 on the clock PF Aaron Tice scored inside and was fouled on the play. He converted the 3 point play giving YSU its first lead at 9-8. The Bearcats then scored 11 unanswered points. With the Penguins shooting horribly, Cincinnati opened a 19 point lead with 3 minutes remaining in the first half. The half ended with Youngstown State on the wrong end of a 50-32 score. In the first half, YSU was outshot 55% to 31%. C Will O’Neil carried the load offensively for the Penguins with 15 points. O’Neil also was credited with 6 rebounds. SG Todd Johnson hit for 13 for Cincinnati.

The double digit deficit stayed intact in the 2nd half. ith 11 minutes left in the 2nd half, PG Pat White cut under the basket, took a pass, turned and put the ball in to cut Cincinnati’s lead to 63-54. Then PF Lee Pauly put in a 14-footer with 8:38 remaining to make it 66-58. But that’s as close as the Penguins would get. From there the Bearcats sprinted away to an 87-69 knockout of the Penguins.

C Will O’Neil scored 26 and hauled down 12 rebounds and hit 10 of his 15 FG attempts. But the Penguins as a team hit just 40% of their shots compared to Cincinnati which knocked down 51% of their FG attempts. For Cincinnati, SG Todd Johnson scored 38 plus grabbed 9 boards and dished out 9 assists.

“We were hoping to get deeper into the tournament. But Cincinnati is a very good team,” said Coach KD Durst. “They were much quicker than us, and the Bearcats defense made it tough for us to get clear so we hit a low percentage of our shots. That spelled our defeat. Even though we didn’t get past the first round, I’m proud of how well our guys developed and came together to play as a team this season. We just came up against a better team tonight.”

Pat Walker, head coach for Cincinnati, said, “We knew that Will O’Neil had some good stats coming in and we were determined to stop him. But we simply couldn’t do it. He’s a heckuva player. It’s hard to believe he’s just a freshman.”

[PointGuard]

Youngstown State Announces Big Recruit Signing
By Steve Porter

The athletic department for Youngstown State announced that Andre Lilly, a 6-10 center from St. David’s High School in Raleigh, North Carolina has decided to play basketball for the Penguins next year. In his senior year, Lilly averaged 19.5 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 3.4 apg, 2.5 spg, and 4.4 bpg. He’s ranked as the 36th best recruit in the nation.

“Lilly is a real force inside, scoring and rebounding well. And he’s a fearsome shot blocker. We’re so excited to have a guy with so much raw talent coming our way. I’m salivating thinking of him teaming up with Will O’Neil inside,” said 1st assistant coach Brandon Warren.

Lilly’s commitment leaves 2 unfilled scholarships left for the Penguins to fill in the coming month. Warren added, “Yeah, we got 2 to fill, but I’m optimistic since we have a number of recruits who are interested and have us on their short list.”

[PointGuard]

Tournament Championship Game Results:

CIT: North Carolina State-100, Eastern Kentucky-77

CBI: Western Illinois-68, Nevada-59

NIT: Texas State-78, Miami (OH)-68

NCAA: Arizona-84, Maryland-61

[PointGuard]

Horizon League Honors Penguins
By Steve Porter

Youngstown State Penguins dominated the Horizon League awards that were announced yesterday. All of the major individual awards went to Penguins as well as 3 of the 10 players named to the All-Conference Teams. Here is a list of those from the Penguins who were given awards:

Horizon League Player of the Year—Will O’Neil

Horizon League Freshman of the Year—Will O’Neil

Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year—Aaron Tice

Horizon League Coach of the Year—Kendrick “KD” Durst

Horizon League 1st Team All-Conference—Will O’Neil

Horizon League 2nd Team All-Conference—Colin Chambliss

Horizon League 2nd Team All-Conference—Aaron Tice

[PointGuard]

Penguins Recruiting News
By Steve Porter

Matt Stafford became the 3rd recruit sighted by Youngstown State. Stafford is from Detroit, Michigan and is a 6-2 PG. He averaged 16.6 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 3.5 apg, and 1.8 spg in his senior season at East Catholic High School. He’s reported to be a good scorer with an excellent outside shot. He’s a strong passer and ball handler and a good defender. His high school coach has indicated while he’s not a leader, he doesn’t cause problems, that he’s not had problems with injuries, and is a hard worker. He’s ranked as the 453rd best recruit in the country.

The next day the final scholarship was filled when Matt Angner committed to play for the Penguins. Angner, a 6-5 SG from Harriman, Tennessee, will be transferring from junior college where he averaged 16.9 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 3.2 apg, 1.8 spg, and 1.9 bpg. He’s a strong scorer who has a sweet outside shot but also is very effective inside as well. He’s a solid rebounder and defender and an adept ball handler. He’s ranked as the 99th best recruit nationally.

Coach KD Durst was effusive in his praise of the incoming class of recruits saying, “We think Angner can step right in and make some immediate contributions. And we're in a position this coming season to give Stafford time to mature and develop into what we think will be a solid performer. Coach Brandon Warren did an excellent recruiting job this year. We landed 4 excellent players who will be big assets to our program and fill holes that are critical to our program."

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Season’s End Creates Questions For Upcoming Year
By Steve Porter

With the departure of four seniors due to graduation, three of whom played key parts in the Penguins success in the past three years, the question becomes “will they be able to prevail in the Horizon League?” The loss of PF Aaron Tice who has been a dominant force inside with consistent scoring and exceptionally strong rebounding and defense leaves a big hole to fill. Coupled with this is C/PF Kent Jones departure. While not a starter, Jones has been a talented and stabilizing substitute who could be counted upon to make solid contributions on both ends of the floor. PG Lenihan Murphy has been a part-time starter, and when not starting, an effective substitute in directing and contributing to the team’s offense.

The coaching staff has been effusive about the incoming class of recruits. They do come with good pedigrees in high school and junior college, but all may take time to mature and become effective at the Division I level of competition. No one should expect that they will immediately make the contributions that Will O’Neil made as a freshman this past season. Most players take a year or more to develop into key assets.

The team does have a good core with Pat White returning at PG (but this is no other PG with experience), part-time starters William Swan and B.J. Dennis back at SG plus Noel Manley now has a year of limited experience at SG, Colin Chambliss and James Asbury returning at SF, Lee Pauly again able to fill in at PF or SF, and Will O’Neil back at C. So the starting lineup should be solid, but unless some of the freshman, particularly at interior positions, are able to contribute quickly, depth could be a problem. So that puts pressure on freshmen Andre Lily and Morris Phelan as well as sophomore LeRoy Delea to be able to contribute on the inside.

Fans will look forward to seeing how the Penguins do in 2021-2022 and can only hope they can continue their recent success. But that’s all dependent upon how the incoming players perform and how the coaching staff melds the team together.

[PointGuard]

Coaching Changes at YSU
By Steve Porter

Earlier this week the athletic department at Youngstown State announced that the contract for 2nd Assistant Coach Raymond Harrington had not been renewed. Subsequently it was learned that Harrington had been hired as 2nd assistant at Harvard.

Yesterday Athletic Director Vic Morrissey announced that Kirk Smith had been promoted from 3rd assistant to 2nd assistant coach and that Shannon Winn had been hired as the Penguins new 3rd assistant. Winn, age 52, previously was 2nd assistant at Montana for the past 5 years and helped develop the team from a week 5-22 record during his first year to two NCAA tournament visits the last 2 years. He has a reputation as an effective player development coach and is expected to fill that role for Coach KD Durst at Youngstown State.