Cris Carroll scored a career-high 34 points as the Youngstown State Penguins men’s basketball team (10-11, 3-7 Horizon) pulled off a big 88-81 win over a much-improved Green Bay Phoenix squad (11-10, 6-4 Horizon) on Thursday evening inside Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center.
Carroll, the senior from down south in Tallahassee, FL, shot 11-for-16 overall from the field and 8-for-12 from beyond the arc. His eight made triples are tied for the most all-time by a Penguin in not just a Horizon League contest, but also against any Division I opponent. The last Penguin who accomplished that same feat was Quin Humphrey against Detroit Mercy on Valentine’s Day of 2007.
“I’m just a kind of player where once I’m in my flow state, it’s hard to take me out of it,” Carroll said on his big night. “We’ve been every day competing, going at it, working hard just to find our way to get back in that win column, so winning tonight definitely meant a lot to us.”
YSU shot 44.4 percent (16-for-36) from long distance, and this also marks the 14th time this season that Ethan Faulkner’s squad has made at least 10 or more three-balls in a game. They made 50 percent (27-of-54) of their overall shots and 81.8 percent (18-of-22) of their free throws. Bryson Dawkins and Rich Rolf scored 15 points each, while Jaiden Haynes scored a dozen.
“It meant a lot, just being a freshman coming into college,” Haines said. “My coaches trusting me, my teammates having my back. I started off a little bit hot, then got into a little bit of a shooting slump. Felt my shots going long, and I don’t really usually shoot long. If I miss, I shoot short. But just them trusting me with the ball, knowing they got my back. So it allows you to play a little bit more freely.”
C.J. O’Hara led Green Bay with a career-high 22 points, with 20 coming from Marcus Hall, 14 for Justin Allen, and a dozen for Preston Ruedinger. Doug Gottlieb’s Phoenix gang shot an impressive 53.7 percent (29-of-54) from the field and 84.2 percent (16-of-19) at the foul line, but they were also just 38.9 percent (7-of-18) on three-point tries.
Green Bay scored the first points of the night on a three-pointer from Hall at the end of the shot clock before YSU added 13 of the next 14 points, scoring on five consecutive possessions, with Carroll hitting one of his three first-half three-pointers to finish the burst at the end of that span.
Youngstown State increased its lead to 10, making the score 23-13 at the 11:47 mark following a Carroll jumper and free throws by Dawkins. But Green Bay fought back with a 14-4 run, and ended up scoring seven unanswered points to tie the score at 27 with 5:15 remaining, courtesy of a layup from Ramel Bethea, a three-point play from O’Hara and back-to-back buckets from Justin Allen. Jason Nelson hit a three-pointer on YSU’s next possession to put an end to his squad’s three-minute scoring drought before Allen hit a pair of foul shots to make it 30-29 Penguins, but Youngstown State built its advantage to 38-29 after an 8-0 run courtesy of a putback tip-in from Imanuel Zorgvol and back-to-back triples from Carroll. Then Hall pulled a counterattack with a three of his own at the 50-second mark, making it a two-possession game at 38-32 heading into halftime.
The Penguins’ hot shooting continued in the second half as they scored on their first seven possessions to take a 57-39 lead with 15:04 to go, then went on another 8-0 run to end the stretch courtesy of a pair of threes from by Carroll and a Dawkins layup.
Carroll hit his eighth and final three-pointer of the game at the 9:02 mark to put the Penguins up 66-52. The Phoenix scored six of the next seven points to get within nine at 67-58, but Dawkins made a layup to make it 69-58 with 6:04 remaining.
The Phoenix got to within seven at 86-79 with 30 seconds left on a Ruedinger three, but that was as close as they would get.
“It feels good to get a win,” Faulkner said after the game. “Obviously, we needed some positivity. We needed one to go our way. I feel like our guys have really been just coming to work every day trying to make progress. It hasn’t always showed on the floor, but obviously thought we played excellent tonight.
“Cris Carroll, monster performance, ” Faulkner added. “I thought he played excellent. But just up and down the line, thought offensively, did a lot of really good stuff. We were better defensively tonight, still gotta get better on that end of the floor. But outside the last three minutes of the game where we’re trying not to foul, trying not to give up three-point shots. Really got knifed to the basket a lot for some easy baskets. We gotta figure out situational defense in those situations to try to keep them at bay.”
Up next: Youngstown State’s three-game homestand continues on Saturday afternoon when the Milwaukee Panthers come to town for a 1 p.m tip-off at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center. Although the game was originally scheduled for 2 p.m., it was moved up an hour earlier due to a winter storm expected to hit most of the country.
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