The Youngstown State men’s basketball team (15-17, 8-12 Horizon) saw its season come to an end with a 68-53 loss against Robert Morris (22-10, 13-7 Horizon), the defending undisputed Horizon League Champions, in the first round of the 2026 Barbasol Horizon League Men’s Basketball Championship on Wednesday night at the UPMC Events Center in Moon Township, PA.
YSU shot 32.1 percent (18-of-56) from the field, 22.2 percent (6-of-27) from three-point territory and 78.6 percent (11-of-14) from the foul line. Vlad Salaridze led Ethan Faulkner’s Penguins with 18 points, nine rebounds and a career-high five steals. Carroll was the only other Penguin in double-figure scoring with 17 points on 3-of-9 shooting from downtown.
The Colonials won the rebounding battle 41-29 and made 48.1 percent (25-of-52) of their overall shots, 47.1 percent (10-of-21) of their threes and 61.5 percent (8-of-13) of their free throws. Ryan Prather Jr. finished with a game-high 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting. Goode recorded 12 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks for his 11th double-double this season. Darius Livingston also scored a dozen points along with six boards, four assists, and two steals.
The second half began with Salaridze scoring seven of the first 10 points to make it a one-point deficit at 31-30 with 17:26 to go. The game remained a one-possession contest over six minutes and change, and the Penguins were down by one at 36-35 after an Imanuel Zorgvol dunk at the 13:18 mark. However, the home team went on a 16-2 run to build its advantage to 15 points at 52-37 with 8:01 to go, with Prather Jr. scoring half of RMU’s points in that span.
Youngstown State went on to trail by double digits for the rest of the game were down by as many as 20 points with 4:32 remaining in the contest following a three-pointer from Prather.
No. 2 RMU has now won eight-straight games and will face No. 3 Detroit Mercy (16-14) in the semifinals on Monday at 9:30 p.m. at the Corteva Coliseum in Indianapolis, and it will air on ESPN2.
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