In a battle between the Horizon League’s bottom two teams, the Youngstown State men’s basketball team (11-12, 4-8 in Horizon) were down by as many as 10 in the first half, but the Penguins used a pair of big runs in the second half to pull off an 85-76 win over the last-place IU Indy Jaguars (6-18, 2-11 Horizon) on Friday night inside of Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center.
Bryson Dawkins finished with a near triple-double, consisting of 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field to go along with nine rebounds, seven assists and a pair of steals.
“It feels amazing,” Dawkins said after the game. “We played very great team ball, we kind of gelled together. I think we went on like a 15 or 14-1 run, something like that, and that was all teams just playing together. We found our joy during that stretch, and that’s what kind of led over to the second half, where we found our joy just all playing together.”
Cris Carroll scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half and pulled down seven rebounds while also blocking a pair of shots, while Tae Blackshear scored all 14 of his points off the bench in the second half for YSU. Ethan Faulkner’s squad shot 60 percent (12-of-20) from the field in the second half and 51 percent (25-of-49) for the whole game while making 38.5 percent (10-of-26) of their threes and 86.2 percent (25-of-29) of their free throws. They also outrebounded the Jaguars 33-26.
“I give IU Indy a lot of credit — really, really hard team to play against,” Faulkner said after the game. “Their pressure is real and relentless over 40 minutes. You have to be incredibly focused throughout the course of the game to not turn the basketball over, have urgency to get to your spots, and press attack. Those things are so important. I thought we did that much better in the second half. That’s what we really talked about at halftime, was our pace, our press attack and in the half-court. To our guys’ credit, I thought the second half, we played one of our better halves of the year.”
Ben Howlett’s IU Indy squad was led by Jaxon Edwards’ second double-double of the season, courtesy of 15 points and 11 rebounds, plus a pair of blocks. Matt Compas also scored 15 points off the bench, while Finley Woodward finished with eight points and tied his career-high with 10 assists.
The Jaguars did not attempt a single free throw in the first half, but they made nine foul shots in 10 attempts (90 percent) in the second half. As a unit, they also made 45.3 percent (29-of-64) of their overall shots and 39.1 percent (9-of-23) of their three-pointers.
IU Indy’s Micah Davis drilled a three for the first points of the night before Dawkins and Reece Hagy traded layups to make it 5-2 Jaguars, but YSU then scored six of the next eight points on threes from Carroll and Rich Rolf to take the 8-7 lead at the 17-minute mark. The Jaguars would score back-to-back buckets with a Woodward layup and an Edwards dunk to go back up at 11-8 at the 15:45 mark.
Dawkins hit a pair of free throws to make it a one-point deficit before the Jags scored five straight points on a Kameron Tinsley three and a layup from Compas to make it 16-10 at the 13:57 point. After a Cam Polak triple, back-to-back buckets from Woodward and Davis increased the lead to seven at 20-13. Dawkins then made a layup before Maguire Mitchell nailed a three to make it 23-15.
Vlad Salaridze answered back with a three-point play before Aiden Miller responded with a three-pointer to make it 26-18 in the Jaguars’ favor at the 8:13 mark. Dawkins responded with a layup to make it a two-possession deficit before IU Indy countered with back-to-back buckets from Compas and Edwards to give the Jaguars their first double-digit lead of the game at 30-20 with 5:59 left.
However, the Penguins waddled back into it with an 8-0 run and were down 30-28 thanks to back-to-back three-balls from Salaridze and Polak, followed by a fastbreak dunk from Dawkins at the 4:17 mark.
But IU Indy was ready to pounce and took the lead with a 7-0 run of their own to go up 37-28, thanks to back-to-back buckets from Compas and another Mitchell three-pointer at the 3:02 mark. YSU then ended the first half on a 6-2 run and trimmed the deficit to 39-34 before halftime, with consecutive shots from Salaridze and Rich Rolf ending the stretch.
YSU carried those points over into the second half and turned it into another 8-0 run with a Carroll jumper, followed by an alley-oop from Polak to Dawkins to make it a one-point deficit at 39-38 through the first 1:27 of the final stanza.
Following a three from Hagy, Carroll scored four straight points by himself with two free throws and a jumper to knot it up at 42-all. However, the Jaguars responded with an 8-0 run of their own to go up 50-42 with back-to-back three-bombs from Compas and Tinsley and a Woodward layup at the 14:20 mark.
Blackshear answered with a three before a three-point play from Edwards at the 13:23 point maintained IU Indy’s eight-point cushion at 53-45, but the Penguins dug deep and scored 18 unanswered points over a 4:13 span. It started with back-to-back treys from Carroll and Blackshear, followed by two free throws by Imanuel Zorgvol – which knotted up the score at 53 all, an alley-oop dunk from Zorgvol off an assist from Rolf, a poster jam from Dawkins, a layup and a technical free throw from Rolf, and three made free throws from Blackshear to make it a 10-point advantage for YSU at 63-53 with 9:43 to go.
YSU led 65-55 with 8:40 remaining when Davis hit two free throws before a Blackshear layup maintained the double-digit advantage, but the Penguins were held without a field goal for the next 4:09 as IU Indy took advantage of that drought by scoring 11 of the next 12 points — including seven unanswered points — to tie the game at 66 with 6:13 remaining, with Compas scoring six points in that stretch.
Dawkins made a pair of foul shots before an Edwards dunk tied it up again at 68 all, but the Penguins went on their third 8-0 run of the night with two made free throws from Nelson and back-to-back threes from Carroll and Blackshear. As a result, the Penguins’ lead was 76-68 with 3:57 to go. YSU’s lead was at nine for most of the remainder of the contest.
Up next, Youngstown State will go back on the road to visit Purdue Fort Wayne, the Horizon League’s third-place team, on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. tip-off inside Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, IN.
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