The Youngstown State men’s basketball team (9-9, 2-4 Horizon) lit it up from beyond the arc and finished one point shy of the century mark in its 99-61 victory over Bryant & Stratton College (10-7, 5-2 USCAA) on Friday morning in front of a sellout crowd of 4,637 during the Penguins annual School Day Kids Game at Zidian Family Arena inside Beeghly Center.
After the game, head coach Ethan Faulkner said the win helped generate positivity back into the team as it broke a four-game skid.
“[It was] good to get a bunch of guys in the game and have the opportunity to let some guys play through some mistakes that we can get on film and try to continue to learn from,” Faulkner said. “We got a chance here over the next six days to really dig in and get some practice time in and try to make some progress and improvements with our team before we head to Wright State to play another very challenging league game.”
For the Bobcats, it was the first time in program history that they played an NCAA Division I opponent. In the matchup, the highlight of the day came early in the second half when Bryson Dawkins’ two-handed poster dunk on Adeboye Akinode made it 67-29.
The Penguins shot 52.4 percent (33-of-63) from the floor for the game, including 53.6 percent (15-of-28) in the first half as well as 46.7 percent (14-of-30) from the three-point line and 70.4 percent (19-of-27) from the foul line. Faulkner’s team dished out 19 assists on 33 made field goals and outrebounded the Bobcats, 50-32. Both benches also combined for 38 points.
Dawkins led YSU with a season-high 21 points and shot 8-of-10 from the field as well as pulled down eight rebounds.
“I feel like this game was placed in the perfect spot,” Dawkins said. “We’re kind of coming off a bad stretch of losses and heartbreak losses and stuff like that, and to finally see a ‘W’ in the win column, that’s motivation.”
Cris Carroll finished with 18 points and went a perfect 7-for-7 at the foul line.
“We just kind of focused on ourselves this game and focused on the things that we need to improve on as a team and just went from there,” Carroll stated. “Really just defense, being more connected defensively, whether that’s being in the plug, communicating, getting a defensive rebound — whatever we gotta do on defense to help us get better.”
Rich Rolf contributed 15 points to go along with seven rebounds, while Tae Blackshear had himself a “Tae Day” with a career-high 15 points off the bench.
Dwayne Morrow’s Bobcats shot 38 percent (27-of-71) from the field, 27.8 percent (5-of-18) from three-point range and 28.6 percent (2-of-7) at the free-throw line. Greg Thurman led the squad with a dozen points off the bench, while Tareeq Roper scored 11 points off the bench in his own right.
The Penguins return to conference play when they visit the Wright State Raiders at 7 p.m. Jan. 15 at the Nutter Center in Dayton. YSU is in search of its eighth-straight win over WSU.
James Moon (CashApp): $JRMoon1991
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