YSU Men Lose Tough Battle in New York

The Youngstown State Penguins men’s basketball team went through a see-saw battle and ended up on the short end of the stick with an 84-80 loss on the road at the hands of the St. Bonaventure Bonnies (4-0) on Saturday afternoon at the Reilly Center in Olean, NY.

Both teams battled through nine lead changes and eight ties in first half, and Youngstown State used a 10-4 run in order to go from down by two at 25-23 to go up by six at 33-27 with 5:09 left to go before halftime. It started with a driving layup by Vlad Salaridze knot it up at 25 all before a three-pointer from Cris Carroll put YSU up at 28-25.

Following a Bonnies bucket from Gardner-Webb transfer Darryl Simmons II, Rich Rolf nailed his third trey of the half before a layup from Jason Nelson put the Penguins up 33-27 with 5:09 to go in the first half. However, SBU ended the first stanza with a 9-0 run with four straight points from North Georgia transfer Charles Cayden, followed by a fastbreak layup from Dasonte Bowen, a free throw from Albany transfer Amar’e Marshall, and a putback from Minnesota transfer Frank Mitchell for a 36-33 lead at the intermission.

In the first half, the Penguins shot 41.7 percent (7-of-17) from downtown, with nine points coming from Rolf and eight points coming off the bench from Cam Polak.

Youngstown State trailed for the majority of the second half and trailed by as many as six at 55-49, but went on a 12-6 run and tied the game up at 61 all after a layup by Drew King. The Penguins then scored five of the next seven points to go up 66-63 with a free throw from Imanuel Zorgvol, a bucket from Carroll, and free throws by Nelson. But the Bonnies went on to score seven unanswered points with free throws and a dunk by Marshall, followed by a three from Simmons to regain the 70-66 advantage.

SBU led by four at 80-76 following a triple by Marshall with 1:44 to go, but Salaridze cut the deficit to two with a layup with 1:27 remaining. Marshall then turned it over on St. Bonaventure’s next possession, and Salaridze took advantage of that miscue with a pair of foul shots to knot it up at 80 all with just 42 seconds left.

After a timeout, Simmons nailed a shot in the paint to in the the paint with 28 seconds to give SBU the lead at 82-80. Carroll then airballed the game-winning three attempt before Charles hit a pair of clutch free throws to put the cream cheese on the bagel.

This game saw 11 ties in as many lead changes throughout the afternoon. It was also the first meeting between these two squads since December 10, 2005, with the Bonnies now winning seven of the eight meetings all-time, as well as their fifth straight contest over Youngstown State.

The Penguins shot 49.2 percent (29-of-59) from the field, 35.7 percent (10-of-28) on threes, and 66.7 percent (12-of-18) from the charity stripe. YSU had 32 points come from their bench and even scored 20 of those points off 15 St. Bonaventure turnovers.

Ethan Faulkner saw five of Penguins score in double figures, with Rolf’s 14 points leading the way, 13 each fromSalaridze and Carroll, a dozen off the bench from Polak, and 11 for Bryson Dawkins.

Bonnies head coach Mark Schmidt, in his 19th season with SBU, saw his guys deliver a solid shooting performance: 58.2 percent (32-of-55) from the field, 46.2 percent (6-of-13) from downtown, and 70 percent from the foul line (7-of-10). They also outrebounded YSU 32-26 and recorded 46 of their 84 points in the paint.

Charles led everyone with 18 points and three steals, while Marshall finished with 17 points off the bench on an efficient 6-for-7 shooting. Simmons also scored 17 points on 7-for-13 shots from the field; with 16 points, seven rebounds, and four assists coming from Mitchell. Bowen had nine points, six board, and five dimes.

Up next: Youngstown State’s road trip continues as they visit the Toledo Rockets on Wednesday, November 19 for a 7:00PM ET tip-off at Savage Arena in Toledo, OH.

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