After reaching the Horizon League Championship for the first time in school history, Youngstown State’s season comes to an end after falling to Robert Morris, 89-78.
“Credit to them, they played excellent basketball from the start.” YSU head coach Ethan Faulkner said in his opening statement after the game. “Robert Morris is a really difficult team to guard, especially with their forwards’ ability to shoot the basketball.”
This was the third straight 20-win season for the Guins, doing it with a brand new roster under first-year head coach. Despite a bittersweet ending, everyone involved with the program should hold their heads high after another successful season. This team also broke the program’s Division 1 win streak record with eight wins, the longest win streak YSU has seen since the 1979-1980 season.
Robert Morris started the game by making their first three shots from the field, including threes from Amarion Dickerson and Kam Woods. YSU came up empty on their first three possessions, giving up an 8-0 lead less than three minutes into it.
The Guins offense slowly gathered their footing and trimmed a deficit as high as 10 to just three points after a flurry of buckets in the paint, and threes from Nico Galette and Juwan Maxey. The rugged YSU defending held the Colonials scoreless for close to three minutes over that stretch.
RMU’s offense came out of a lull and ripped of six quick points inside to extend their lead to back up to six at the under-eight media timeout.
The Guins kept battling for buckets inside, and found ways to cut at the deficit either at the free throw line or finishing around the cup. YSU came back within five points off a layup from Maxey at the 4:21 before the final media timeout of the first half.
Both sides exchanges blows for the remaining four minutes, keeping YSU within striking distance to end the first half, trailing just 29-34. The Guins shot just north of 33% from the field at the end of the first, while Robert Morris shot only 43.7%.
Although YSU had held the Colonials to 43.7% shooting, they were often scrambling in help defense off direct drives. Whenever Gabe Dynes wasn’t roaming the paint, the likes of Dickerson, Woods and Josh Omojafo would look to get downhill and either score or kick it to the perimeter. Luckily, Robert Morris was just 3-10 from beyond the arc in the first.
The slow shooting start from both sides didn’t carry over to the second half in the slightest, as the Guins pour in a trio of threes, and the Colonials made two of their own within the first three minutes of the second half.
It was clear that this game had turned into an offensive barnburner, as both teams had scored 24 points before the first media timeout, with Robert Morris still clinging to a 47-40 lead.
After that break, Dynes made his mark on the offensive side of the ball, jamming home three dunks during a four minute stretch. Getting touches in the paint was on the forefront of the Guins’ comeback, as Maxey and Ty Harper both converted pairs of free throws after getting fouled driving to the cup.
YSU only trailed 49-53 at the under-twelve media timeout. Cris Carroll cut the lead to just two after a three on their first possession after the break.
In the ensuing stretch, both teams traded blows again offensively. The Colonials would land the first punch, but the Guins kept swinging back and responding to almost every basket. Robert Morris went into the under-eight timeout narrowly outscoring YSU 10-8, heading into the break with a six point lead.
Omojafo’s two free throws landed the first blow following the break, but Maxey nailed a three off a Jason Nelson assist to put the Guins back within five.
To counter the looming YSU lead, Alvaro Folgueiras began to flex his offensive arsenal, scoring nine of the next 13 points for Robert Morris in a variety of ways. Galette, Nelson, and Maxey did their best to match the efforts of Folgueiras, but the deficit ballooned to 13 at the final TV timeout. Despite chipping the lead down to seven at the 1:20 mark, YSU ran out of gas and ultimately fell short, 78-89
Robert Morris scored 55 second-half points, with nearly half coming from efficient perimeter shooting. The Colonials were 8-12 from deep in the second half, and shot 50% from the field. Youngstown fought like hell to keep up, as they scored 49 in the second half.
“I didn’t think our offense was spectacular by any stretch of the imagination.” Faulkner stated when first touching on his team’s performance. “But we scored 78 points and hit 11 threes; I thought we did enough offensively to give us a better chance to win the game, just didn’t have it defensively.”
Juwan Maxey ended as YSU’s leading scorer, as the junior guard finished with 23 points and dished four assists. Nico Galette filled in 21 points, collected seven rebounds, and had three steals, while being named to the All-Tournament Team. Gabe Dynes racked up a double-double, with 11 points, 10 boards, and six blocks.
After the game, Faulkner reflected on what the team meant to him. “This was a special, really fun group to coach that went to work regardless of the circumstances of our team. I can’t say enough about our four seniors, and what they mean to this program.”
There’s no doubt that YSU will look to build on this great season and establish further success. “We’re at a point in our program where the expectation is to win and compete for league championships.” He elaborated on the future by expanding on the state of the team next year. “We have a chance to build some continuity here. We’ve got a lot of guys with returning eligibility, and we’re going to fight like crazy to keep this group together.”
