Charlotte transfer Rich Rolf posted his first-career NCAA double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, but the Youngstown State Penguins men’s basketball team (15-15, 8-11 Horizon) suffered a 78-65 defeat at the hands of the Milwaukee Panthers on Wednesday night at UWM Panther Arena.
Rolf, who made three triples in nine attempts, also dished out six assists and had a pair of blocks. Cris Carroll led YSU with 13 points, with eight points apiece coming from Bryson Dawkins and Jaiden Haynes, and seven points off the bench from Vlad Salaridze. Ethan Faulkner’s Penguins shot 43.9 percent (25-of-57) from the field, 25.8 percent (8-of-31) from beyond the arc, and 77.8 percent (7-of-9) from the free throw line.
Bart Lundy’s Panthers never trailed in the game. They made 50.9 percent (29-of-57) of their overall shots, 42.9 percent (9-of-21) of their threes, and 78.6 percent (11-of-14) of their foul shots. They also outrebounded YSU 32-30 and won the points in the paint cushion 34-32.
Stevie Elam led all scorers with 19 points and shot 4-of-8 from downtown, while Aaron Franklin pulled off his fifth double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Esyah Pippa-White had 11 points with five boards and four dimes, while Chandler Jackson scored 14 points off the bench.
The Panthers scored the first eight points of the game with an Amar Augillard three, a Pippa-White fastbreak layup, and a three-point play by Franklin. During that stretch, the Penguins missed their first six field-goal attempts. After Jason Nelson traded fastbreak baskets with Augillard, the Panthers were up 10-2 at the 16:05 mark.
With YSU down 18-7, a dunk from Imanuel Zorgvol and a layup by Rolf cut down the deficit to seven at 18-11 at the 12:50 point. Milwaukee would answer with a layup from Isaiah Dorceus and a triple by Franklin to put the home team up by a dozen at 23-11 with 10:33 remaining.
The Penguins waddled back into it with a 10-0 run within a 2:16 span with Rolf’s second three of the game, two made free throws from Drew King, a layup by Salaridze, and a three-point play from Carroll to make it a one-possession deficit at 23-21 at the 7:53 point.
Pippa-White’s back-to-back buckets started a 9-2 Panther run as they built their lead back up to eight at 32-24. However, the Penguins used a 9-2 run of their own to get within one at 34-33, starting with back-to-back threes from Dawkins and Carroll, followed by a three-point play from Salaridze with 52 seconds to go.
The Panthers scored five of the last seven points of the half, however, and were ahead 39-35 at the intermission.
Pippa-White’s dunk was the first basket of the second half before the Penguins scored six unanswered points to knot it up at 41 all with 17:06 to go, courtesy of a pair of layups by Dawkins and another one from Carroll.
Within a 5:44 span, the Panthers widened their lead back to double digits at 56-42 with 10:50 to go following a 15-1 run, with Franklin scoring nine points in that stretch.
However, the Penguins wasted no time fighting back with a 12-1 run of their own. It started with a three from Tae Blackshear before UWM’s Sekou Konneh made one free throw. Then came nine unanswered points for YSU with Rolf’s third three of the night, back-to-back layups from Haines, and another bucket from King to make it a one-possession deficit at 57-54 with 7:28 left in regulation.
After Pippa-White and Zorgvol traded baskets to keep the deficit at three at 59-56, Milwaukee basically put the cream cheese on the bagel by recording 14 of the next 16 points to go up by 15 at 73-58 with 2:16 remaining, led by a pair of trey-balls from Elam. After that, the Panthers led by double digits for the final stages of the evening.
Youngstown State will close out the regular season on the road against a much-improved Green Bay team on Saturday, for a 2 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. CT tip-off at the Kress Center in Green Bay, WI.
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