YSU Slides by Wright State in Tough Conference Opener

The Youngstown State Penguins men’s basketball team (5-4, 1-0 Horizon) opened up Horizon League play with a close 69-68 win over the Wright State Raiders (4-5, 0-1 Horizon) inside Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center on Wednesday night. There were a total of seven lead changes and 17 ties, but YSU ended up winning their seventh straight game over in-state rival Wright State.

The Penguins took their first lead of the night at 12-11 when Charlotte transfer Rich Rolf made his second 3-pointer of the first half at the 14:42 point, but the Raiders answered with a 7-0 run to go up 18-12 at the 12:27 mark. It began with a layup from Stephen F. Austin transfer Dominic Pangonis, followed by a three from Vermont grad transfer Sam Alamutu, and a fastbreak layup from Ball State transfer T.J. Burch.

However, YSU ended the first half on a 16-3 run that was highlighted with a bank triple and a dunk from senior Cris Carroll, which helped the Penguins go up 27-26 at the 4:03 mark. Grad student Michael Imariagbe made a pair of free throws with 3:40 left as WSU went back up 28-27, but Youngstown State scored nine of the next 10 points that started with a powerful dunk from Houston Christian transfer Bryson Dawkins and ended with back-to-back layups from senior Jason Nelson and College of Idaho transfer Tyler Robinett, which helped Ethan Faulkner’s Penguins go up 36-29 at the intermission.

YSU was up 45-38 with a dunk from senior Imanuel Zorgvol and free throws from sixth-year grad student Cam Polak following a technical foul assessed to Wright State head coach Clint Sargent, but WSU went on another 7-0 run to tie the game up at 45 at the 13:31 mark. It started and ended with layups from Burch, which also included a free throw from Imariagbe and two made freebies from redshirt sophomore Solomon Callaghan in between.

Then, the lead changed hands 10 times in the next dozen minutes as the Raiders were held scoreless from the 4:18 point down to 1:30, which helped YSU take a 67-62 lead with a layup and free throw from Carroll, followed by another made foul shot from Elon transfer Drew King.

However, WSU countered with six unanswered points. Following a Burch layup, freshman Michael Cooper hit a corner three to tie the game at 67 with a minute and a half remaining. After Carroll missed a go-ahead three-point attempt, sophomore Andrea Holden was fouled by Robinett and split a pair of free throws with 24 seconds to play to give the green and gold a one-point advantage at 68-67. In the final moments of the game, Rolf drove to the tin and got fouled by Holden before hitting both foul shots to give YSU the lead back at 69-68 with nine seconds remaining. Wright State had a chance to win it, but a last-second three-point shot from Cooper in the corner rimmed out to seal the deal.

“I was just trusting my work,” Rolf said after scoring 10 points (2/4 3-PT FG) and making the game-winning free throws. “I work out every single day. My teammates put trust in me, so I just went to the line thinking I’d make both.”

Carroll finished with a game-high 19 points plus seven rebounds. “Every game, you’re just going to have to be tough,” he said. “It’s going to be physical every game. As a team, we just got to stay connected, fight adversity because it’s going to be adversity throughout the game. As long as we stay connected, we’re gonna get the job done every time.”

Youngstown State outrebounded Wright State 39-23 while also making 44.6 percent of their field goals (25-of-56), 35 percent of their threes (7-of-20), and 60 percent of their free throws (12-of-20). In addition to Rolf and Carroll’s performances, Dawkins scored 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting.

“Really, really pleased with the outcome of the game,” Faulkner said afterwards regarding the contest. “I did not think we played particularly well, and a lot of credit goes to Wright State. I’m pleased that we were able to find a way to win a gritty, grimy, ugly game, whatever you wanna call it. We’re still a work in progress as a team to play the basketball that we’re capable of playing, but again, really proud of our guys showing some resiliency – when we maybe not had our best stuff – to find a way to get a big-time conference win against a really good team.”

Imariagbe finished with 15 points to lead Wright State and shot 9-of-14 from the line, while Burch tied his career-high of 14 points alongside three rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals in 28 minutes off the bench. Alamutu turned in 13 points and seven rebounds in 26 minutes off the bench, while Holden filled up the statsheet with 11 points (5/6 FG), four rebounds, five blocks, four steals and a pair of dimes.

Wright State shot a solid 52.1 percent overall from the field (25-of-48) and even scored 24 points off 17 Penguin turnovers, but WSU also made just three of their 13 three-point tries (23.1 percent) and 15 of their 28 foul shot attempts (53.6 percent).

Up next: Youngstown State visits the IU Indy Jaguars on Saturday, December 4 for a 2ET/1CT tip-off at The Jungle.