Youngstown, OH – The Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons (18-9, 11-5 Horizon League) traveled across the state of Ohio to complete the regular season series against the Youngstown State Penguins (17-10, 11-5 Horizon League). The Penguins looked to avenge the earlier January 4 matchup, and they did just that in an absolute statement win. Using a breakout game from Nico Gallette, the Guins took the win 93-71 on their home court.
First Half: The beginning of the game looked completely different than the end of the game. The Mastodons, riding a 3-game winning streak into Wednesday night’s contest, came out hot. Well, one Mastodon came out extremely hot and made the team hot by proximity. Maximus Nelson (6-8 Forward, Jr.) came out of the gates doing exactly what Nelson does – shooting the 3-ball. He has taken over 93% (151-of-162) of his season field goal attempts from behind the arc. Nelson showed the Penguins very quickly that he was very comfortable behind the line.
The Appleton, Wisconsin native started the game with the first 12 points for the Mastodons by shooting 4-of-5 from behind the arc. The 4th three would force YSU’s head coach Ethan Faulkner to call a timeout, down 5-12, to emphasize the importance of finding and guarding Nelson outside. His message clearly hit home as Nelson would not hit another 3-pointer all game.
The first Mastodon to score not named Nelson would be “the hardest working man in America” Mulder. He would receive a pass down low from Corey Hadnot II and throw down a slam dunk to take a 9-point lead, 14-5. A pass down low to Mulder from Rasheed Bello the next trip down the floor would lead to a layup from Mulder, and the Mastodons would find themselves in control with an 11-point lead. This lead would be anything but safe from the Penguins. The two teams would trade baskets until a Jason Nelson layup at 12:54 left in the half.
From this point a scoring drought would hit both teams for over 2.5 minutes. Once these 2.5 minutes were up, the two teams started scoring in bunches again. The Penguins were looking for a recipe for success against the high-volume scoring Mastodons, and they found success in the recipe titled “Just Score More Points.” The Mastodons would score a basket, only to be followed by a YSU basket of their own and one or two free throws before the next Mastodon bucket.
A three-pointer from Juwan Maxey with 3:54 left in the half would tie the game at 33-33. This three-pointer would prove to be the spark that defrosted the Penguins scoring but completely froze the Mastodons. A rare free throw miss by Bello would be followed by a made free throw to put the Mastodons up 34-33, but this would be the last lead for the Mastodons, and it would never be this close again. A Galette layup and three-pointer would put the Penguins back on top 38-34. It would take Horizon League’s leading scorer, Jalen Jackson (20.2 PPG coming into the game) all of 18 minutes to get in the scoring column with a midrange shot. Six free throws between the two teams and a layup from Jackson would send the game to halftime with the Mastodons trailing at half 40-42.
Second Half: The Penguins came out of the break with the mantra “the best defense is a great offense”, but they also had a pretty dang good second half defense as well. Back-to-back three-pointers from Cris Carroll and Maxey set the tone for the second half scoring frenzy for Youngstown State. Bello would try to be a one man scoring army for the Mastodons to keep them in the game early in the half by scoring the Mastodons first seven points. Unfortunately, those seven points took nearly 5 minutes, and Youngstown State used another 3-pointer, 3 made free throws, and two midrange jumpers to continue to pull away from the Mastodons. The Mastodons found themselves on the other side of a double-digit lead at the first media timeout by a score of 44-58.
Bello and Jackson would team up to get the deficit to single digits, but 7-3 Sophomore Gabe Dynes would get the Beeghly Center rocking with a rim rattling slam – though he really didn’t need to jump that high…
The Mastodons last glimmer of hope seemed to come by the ways of a few desperation heaves – a left corner three from backup big man Deangelo Elisee over the closing out Dynes and back-to-back threes from Quinton Morton-Robinson. Elisee (9.4 minutes per game) has seen his playing time cut back with the return of Mulder to the floor. However, the Bahamas native makes his mark known with his second three-pointer of the season. He is a perfect 100% from behind the arc this season thus far. Mastodon fans perhaps were put to ease a little seeing Morton-Robinson finally getting some shots to find paydirt. Unfortunately, a Morton-Robinson three with 11:29 left in the game would be the last bucket for the Mastodons for over 5 minutes of play.
The Penguins would put their foot on the gas and push the gas pedal through the floor during this Mastodon drought. Siem Uijtendaal would nail back-to-back three-pointers much to the delight of the home crowed at the Beeghly Center pushing the lead to 20. The Mastodon’s head coach Jon Coffman would get called for a technical foul after the second Uijtendaal three-pointer, giving the Penguins two free throw – which Juwuan Maxey would sink. The rest of the game would be trading of baskets until the final horn which saw the Mastodons suffer a loss by more points (22 points) than their other four league losses combined (16 points). The Penguins would use 51 second half points to put the rest of the league on notice with the 93-71 victory.
Stats and Leaders: The Mastodons were led in scoring by Bello (21 PTS), who has been no stranger to the leading scorer title recently for the Mastodons. He has led the ‘Dons in scoring in 4 straight games and 10 games on the season. Nelson finished the game with 14 points, and Jackson was held to a season-low 8 points. This is the first time that Jackson did not record double figures this season. The Mastodons would shoot 26-for-65 (40%) from the field and 10-for-31 (32.5%) from three-point land. Uncharacteristically, the Mastodons would not win the turnover battle. Both teams turned the ball over nine times.
Mulder once again led the team with 8 rebounds (3 OREB, 5 DREB). Chandler Cuthrell grabbed 6 boards, and no other Mastodon had more than 3 rebounds. The ‘Dons lost the rebounding battle 30-39.
The Penguins were led by 21 points from Galette. Galette’s 21 points would tie a season-high for Galette. He scored 21 points back on November 16 in a 2OT loss to Syracuse in the Axe ‘Em Classic. He also recorded 10 rebounds to earn his 7th double-double of the season. The Penguins scoring brigade was also aided by 17 points from Maxey, 14 points off the bench from Nelson, and 12 points from Carroll before he fouled out of the game. The Penguins would outshoot the Mastodons with a 30-for-60 (50%) clip from the field and 12-for-32 (37.5%) from three. A large disparity in the game came from the free throw line. The Penguins would shoot 13 more free throws (21-24, 87.5%) than the Mastodons (9-11, 81.8%).
What’s Next: Youngstown State travels to first place Cleveland State for a big matchup on February 16. Cleveland State won the last matchup between the two teams by a score of 80-72 during their long winning streak. The game will tip off at 3:00 pm ET nationally broadcasted on ESPNU.
Purdue Fort Wayne will continue their road trip an hour Southeast towards Pittsburgh to take on Robert Morris in a crucial matchup with the Colonials. The Mastodons received some much needed help from Bobby Mo’ on Wednesday as Robert Morris convincing handling the first place team Cleveland State in Cleveland. The Mastodons won the first matchup with Robert Morris in Fort Wayne by a score of 82-77. The game will tip off at 2:00pm ET on February 15 broadcasting live on ESPN+.
