The Youngstown State men’s basketball team (12-12, 5-8 Horizon) started hot from the field and stayed that way in the Penguins 90-61 win over the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons (14-10, 8-5 Horizon) on Wednesday evening at Allen County Memorial Coliseum.
The Penguins’ 29-point margin of victory was the second-highest in a Horizon League road game in school history and their largest winning margin since their 82-52 win at home over Northern Kentucky on January 28, 2024.
Youngstown State’s field-goal percentage of 66 percent (35-for-53) is the third highest single-game total in school history and the highest ever against any Horizon League opponent.
Senior Bryson Dawkins led all scorers with 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting, while Rich Rolf dropped 15 of his own and made a career-high five trey-balls in eight attempts. Tae Blackshear scored 14 points off the bench and nailed a career-high four triples in five tries, with 12 points for Cris Carroll and 10 points for Cam Polak. Imanuel Zorgvol scored six points and pulled down a game-high eight rebounds off the bench. Carroll pulled down six boards, but also committed seven of YSU’s 12 turnovers.
YSU’s 16 made three-pointers not only marks the 16th time this season they have made at least 10 or more triples in a game, but it’s also tied for the fourth most made three-pointers in a single game in program history. Overall, the Penguins nailed 57.1 percent (16-for-28) of their shots from beyond the arc.
Jon Coffman’s Purdue Fort Wayne team shot 46.2 percent (24-of-56) from the field, 26.3 percent (5-of-19) from downtown, and a solid 72.7 percent (8-of-11) from the free throw line. Corey Hadnot II led the ‘Dons with 17 points, with 14 coming from DeAndre Craig and 10 for Mikale Stevenson.
The game was knotted up at 16 just 7:23 into the game, but the Penguins took the 21-16 lead on a Dawkins layup and a Blackshear three at the 11:39 mark. After PFW’s Chris Morgan nailed a pair of free throws to make it a one-possession deficit, YSU scored 11 unanswered points over the next 3:45 to go up 32-18 at the 8:18 mark of the first stanza. It started with a three-point play from Dawkins, followed by a layup from Zorgvol, and back-to-back threes from Blackshear and Rolf to cap off the run.
Purdue Fort Wayne scored the next seven-straight points to bring the deficit down to seven at 32-25 with a fastbreak dunk and a three from Hadnot, followed by a fastbreak layup from Stevenson. However, the Penguins went on a 13-4 run over the last 6:12 of the half to take a 45-29 lead at the intermission, with Dawkins scoring eight points in that span.
Youngstown State opened the second half with consecutive threes from Carroll and Polak to make it a 22-point advantage at 51-29 just 51 seconds into the final stanza. Purdue Fort Wayne responded with five quick points with a Stevenson layup and a Craig three before Rolf drilled another trey-ball to push the margin back to 20 points at 54-34 with 16:23 left.
The Mastodons cut the deficit as close as 18 points after a layup by Craig at the 15:45 mark made it 54-36, but that was as close as PFW would get. YSU’s biggest lead of the night was 31 at 90-59 with 1:12 to go in the game, thanks to five unanswered points courtesy of a jump shot from Vlad Salaridze and a three by Polak.
Youngstown State will return home to host Robert Morris on Saturday afternoon for a 4:30 p.m. tip-off at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center.
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