The Youngstown State Penguins men’s basketball team (6-4, 2-0 Horizon) started off hot and stayed that way as they cruised to their fourth consecutive win with a 78-55 beatdown of the IU Indy Jaguars (3-8, 0-2 Horizon) on Saturday afternoon inside of The Jungle.
YSU came out of the gates firing by scoring 11 of the game’s first 15 points just 3:55 into the contest courtesy of three made buckets by Charlotte transfer Rich Rolf, a layup from senior Jason Nelson, and a three-pointer by senior Imanuel Zorgvol. The Penguins built their lead to a dozen at 22-10 after Houston Christian transfer Bryson Dawkins threw a perfect alley-oop pass to Zorgvol for the dunk halfway through the first stanza.
Moments later, the two teams traded 6-0 runs. It started with IU Indy courtesy of a bucket from senior Finley Woodward, a free throw from Dalton State transfer Matt Compas, and a triple from West Liberty transfer Kameron Tinsley to make it 22-16 at the 8:54 mark. After that, the Penguins countered with a three from Rolf, a jumper from freshman Jaiden Haynes, and a made foul shot by Tennessee-Martin transfer Vlad Salaridze to go up by 12 at 28-16 with 6:49 remaining.
IU Indy then went on a 10-0 run over a 1:34 span with consecutive layups from freshman Maguire Mitchell, Eastern Kentucky transfer Micah Davis, and St. Bonaventure transfer Jaxon Edwards; followed by free throws and a layup from another West Liberty transfer in Kyler D’Augustino. Just like that, Ben Howlett’s Jaguars were down by two at 28-26 with 5:15 left before the intermission.
Although it was a two-point game with YSU up 32-30 later on at the 3:49 mark, Ethan Faulkner’s Penguins closed out the half on a 10-0 run with layups from Salaridze and Rolf, a triple by Dawkins, and both a free throw and a layup from senior Cris Carroll for the 42-30 advantage at recess.
In the second half, Youngstown State picked up right where they left off and scored the first 11 points of the last stanza with made free throws by Dawkins, a Zorgvol, more made foul shots from Nelson, a Rolf layup, and a Dawkins three. As a result, the Penguins scored 23 unanswered points and were up 53-30 at the 17:11 mark.
The Penguins were up again by 23 points for the third time in the half at 65-42 after sixth-year grad student Cam Polak recorded a steal and fed Rolf for a layup to finish the fastbreak with 11:52 remaining in the game, but IU Indy scored nine unanswered points within a 2:03 span to cut the lead down to 14 at 65-51. It started with a three from Davis, followed by a fastbreak bucket from Tinsley, free throws from D’Augustino, and a dunk from Davis at the 7:05 mark.
However, YSU ended the day on a 13-4 run as Carroll started things with both a three-pointer and a hook shot before scoring the game’s final bucket with a layup to put the cream cheese on the bagel.
The Penguins won the rebounding battle 44-29 and shot an impressive 53.6 percent (30-of-56) from the field, but they made just 33.3 percent of their threes (7-of-21) and 61.8 percent of their foul shots. YSU saw four players score in double figures, with Rolf leading the way with 20 points on an efficient 9-of-12 shooting from the field. 17 for Carroll, 11 for Zorgvol, and 10 for Dawkins.
The Jaguars shot 32.8 percent (19-of-58) overall, 16 percent (4-of-25) on three-pointers, and 68.4 percent (13-of-19) on free throws. D’Augustino was the lone Jaguar in double-figure scoring with 19 points and made 11 of his 12 attempts at the charity stripe.
Up next: Youngstown State will host the Thiel Tomcats, an Division III opponent, on Sunday, December 14 for a 2 PM ET tip-off at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center.
James Moon (CashApp): $JRMoon1991
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