In a must-see finish, the Youngstown State Penguins will play in a Horizon League Championship game for the first time in program history after taking down Cleveland State 56-54.
“Just a really gritty, grimy performance from us,” YSU head coach Ethan Faulkner said on the historic win. “We just stayed the course defensively, and really grinded it out. We made enough offensive plays down the stretch, and I’m really proud of our guys.”
The first half started pretty similar to the quarterfinal game against Purdue Fort Wayne, with YSU struggling to find anything on the offensive end, but staying in the game with hard-nosed defending.
After the first media timeout, the score was just 3-2 in YSU’s favor. A Dylan Arnett layup and a Cris Carroll three were all that fell for either side. Instead, both teams tried to claw their way inside, ultimately to no avail.
YSU kept pounding the ball inside off the drive after the timeout, as Ty Harper and Cris Carroll each made respective visits to the free throw line to make the score 6-2. Jason Nelson and Nico Galette tried to reciprocate that process, but both came away empty from the charity stripe to keep the four-point lead.
The 11:47 mark brought forth the second media timeout, and the score was still stuck at 6-2. By forcing difficult shots and causing turnovers, the Guins’ stingy defense held the Vikings scoreless for over five minutes.
YSU’s offense began to kick after this break, with Juwan Maxey lighting the flame from beyond the arc out of the timeout and converting a tough layup at the 8:24 mark to give YSU a 14-5 lead.
Je’Shawn Stevenson got the Vikings off the snide with a triple and finish inside the paint to cut the Guins’ lead to just 6. After a 1-2 free-throw line visit from Maxey, CSU’s defense stumped YSU’s offense from scoring for a four minute stretch, allowing them to claw back offensively from a KJ Debrick banked-in three and a Tevin Smith layup.
Galette then scored five straight on consecutive possessions to close the first-half scoring for the Guins. Stevenson and Tahj Staveskie trimmed YSU’s lead to just one after both guards sank respective long balls, with the first half ending 22-21 in YSU’s favor.
The Vikings open the second half swinging, instantly gaining a spark after forcing three straight misses and gaining the lead with a Tevin Smith three. The Guins came up empty on the ensuing three trips down the floor, while CSU earned five more points from a Staveskie triple and a putback from Ebrima Dibba to give them a 29-22 lead.
YSU went back to the well inside and got a pair of free throws from Galette to end an almost four-minute scoring drought before the first media timeout. Galette got to the cup and scored inside after the break to cut the deficit to just four.
Jason Nelson quickly burst into the second half scoring column with a three and layup on consecutive offensive possessions. Siem Uijtendaal followed suit, cashing in back-to-back threes.
With every blow Nelson and Uijtendaal threw at CSU’s defense, Arnett and Smith responded with counters of their own, leading to a tie at 37 at the under-12 media timeout.
After the timeout, both offenses found a groove. Arnett rang in another touch shot to give a lead back to the Vikings, but Uijtendaal found luck with a jump shot inside the arc to level the score. Smith and Uijtendaal then traded threes on consecutive possessions.
The formidable CSU defense showed up in a big way for the next three minutes, holding YSU scoreless for roughly three minutes, allowing the Vikings to gain a 46-43 lead.
Uijtendaal stopped the draught with a bucket inside after a goaltend to make it 46-45 at the 5:57 mark, but as expected, Issac Abidde answered with a fastbreak dunk off an Arnett steal on YSU next possession.
Harper tied the game at 48 after sinking three foul shots. From this moment on, there was pressure in every possession, as each team had mimicked every blow dealt by the other. CSU went into the last TV timeout with a 52-50 lead.
After a turnover and Arnett miss, Galette snatched an offensive rebound and fed Gabe Dynes in the paint for a dunk to knot the game up at 52 with just 1:22 to play. Smith took the lead back for the Vikings after sinked a pair of free throws.
The Guins’ next possession was met with tough defense, but as the shot clock was ticking down, Nelson drove from the left corner and fired a pass along the baseline to Harper. Despite being fouled in the act of shooting, Harper nailed the corner three to give YSU a one point advantage, and converted the four-point play to put YSU up 54-52.
CSU had two good chances to find an equalizer, but YSU forced a turnover with six seconds on the clock to clinch the win.
Uijtendaal led the Guins in scoring with 13 points, including three timely three-pointers down the stretch. He also added four steals which is a season high.
“Siem is a guy that just continues to come in and work everyday.” Faulkner said after the win. “He was a starter at Canisius last year and was their leading scorer. When he came here he didn’t start for us until EJ got hurt. But he’s continued to punch the clock everyday, and you look at moments like today, you can say it paid off.”
Galette had another do-it-all performance, with 9 points, 12 boards, four assists, and three steals. Ty Harper finished with 9 points and 5 rebounds on 1-10 shooting. That’s right, the corner three that gave Youngstown the late lead was his first made field goal of the night. And it couldn’t have come at a better moment.
Harper was asked what was going through his head after the game-changing shot. His response? “Just get a stop. Everything comes down to getting stops. If we just stay together and get stops, anything can happen.”
They will face the Horizon League regular-season winner in Robert Morris tomorrow, March 11th, at 7 PM in the Barbasol Horizon League Basketball Championship game for a chance to qualify for the NCAA tournament for the first time ever. The Guins split the season series with the Colonials, with a 72-58 win in December, and a 70-72 loss in late January.
Faulkner previewed some of his thoughts on the upcoming matchup in the postgame presser. “We played them early in the season, and they’re certainly playing much better basketball now. But again, it’s gonna come down to defense.”
It will undoubtedly be another dog-fight tomorrow night, as both teams will battle for a ticket to the big dance.
