Kenya Middlebrooks Shatters Three-Point Record, YSU Shatters Detroit, 80-67

Two seasons ago, Detroit’s Yar Shayok and Youngstown State’s Brandi Brown were in a two horse race for Horizon League Newcomer of The Year.  Shayok walked away with the hardware despite being inferior in a vast majority of the statistics.  Unfortunately for Brown, that Penguin team went 0-30.  Kenya Middlebrooks was part of that Cindy Martin regime.  She has endured plenty of heartbreak.  The senior, on this night, was absolutely on fire and finished with 30 points and the Penguins rode her coattails to a 80-67 win.  The hoop looked as big as the ocean for this game anyway.

Fast forward to 2012.  Not to demean, but Shayok comes off of Detroit’s bench now.  Brown is living up to a well-desrved honor as Horizon League Conference Player of The Year.  The Penguins were riding their longest losing streak of the season (four), but matched the program’s win total for the last three seasons combined with their ninth win.

“It was a good challenge”, commented Coach Bob Boldon afterwards.  ”Brandi got into foul trouble last week in Milwaukee and we looked like we didn’t even know how to play basketball.  We came back, had two real good practices and proved how much these players have matured in a short period of time.”

In the first half, Brown and her Penguin teammates were fluent on both ends of the court.  Brown amassed nine first half points, mostly against a much larger defender, Detroit’s freshman standout, Shareta Brown.  The Penguins also got nine from Melissa Thompson who got the start en route to a 35-26 halftime lead.  The Titans struggled shooting the ball in the first half on nine of 29 shooting (31%).

As the second half started, Detroit cut into the YSU lead with a couple of quick buckets, but Brown hit a three to make it a 38-30 game. Shareta Brown made it a 38-33 game as she lumbered through the paint (a la Jerome Bettis), got fouled, hit a basket, and converted the free throw.  Kenya Middlebrooks showed some aggression as she cut through three Titans and converted while being fouled.  Middlebrooks converted the free throw and YSU seemed to, up to this point anyway, keep the Titans safely in their rear-view mirrors.

In fact, Middlebrooks went on a spree.  She nailed two more threes to increase the YSU lead to 50-42 and was in some kind of zone.  The argument could be made that the supporting cast around Brandi Brown is why the Penguins have already more wins this season than the past three combined.  Boldon-ball is exciting and loaded with chucks beyond the arc.  Newcomer Devan Matkin hit a three with 10:57 left in the game to solidify the Penguins margin to 57-46.

The Penguins built the lead to as much as 18 in the second half, but the Titans used a very effective full-court press that obviously rattled YSU and allowed Detroit to crawl back into the game.  The Penguins were ahead 70-56 with over five minutes to go when Brandi Brown collected her fifth foul.  The rest of this team is not chopped liver, and they proved it by keeping the game out of reach, building the lead back to 19 with just over three to play.

Middlebrooks went 8-10 from three (80%) and finished the game with a career high 30 points.  She came into the game leading the Horizon League with 44 three-pointers and only increased her margin with her outstanding performance.  Before fouling out, Brown collected 16 points on 5-7 shooting.  Thompson contributed twelve more for the Penguins, also a career high.

“The preparation and pregame help you get ready”, remarked Middlebrooks.  ”It’s a very big win for us and we needed a win really bad.  When you get those wide open looks, you take the shots, and fortunately, they were falling for me tonight.”

Middlebrooks said she follows the same ritual every game and did nothing special to prepare.  The result, however, was very special.

Detroit (9-11, 5-3 HL) got 21 from Shareta Brown who went 9-12 from the free throw line.

YSU will host Wright State Saturday in the first game of a men/women doubleheader.  Tipoff is set for 4:30.

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Blake Allen Is Horizon League Player Of The Week

Youngstown State junior guard Blake Allen (Tampa, Fla.) has been named the Horizon League Player of the Week, the league announced on Monday morning. He also garned player-of-the-week honors from CollegeSportsMadness.com

The accolade is the first of Allen’s career, and he helps Youngstown State become the first men’s basketball team to have four different players of the week in one season since Loyola in 1984-85.  Kendrick Perry is the lone starter not to get the award, and he is very capable to explode at anytime.  Record setting stuff here!

Allen joins DuShawn Brooks (Dec. 5), Damian Eargle (Jan. 2) and Ashen Ward (Jan. 9) as Penguins who have collected player of the week honors.

Last week, Allen averaged 21.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals per game and led the Guins to a 2-0 record, including a 68-66 win over then-Horizon League Leader Milwaukee and YSU’s first 30-point Horizon League victory, 77-47, over Green Bay.

Overall Allen shot 75 percent (12-of-16) from the field, 76.9 percent (10-of-13) from 3-point range and 81.8 percent (9-of-11) from the free-throw line.  He scored a career-high 27 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field and matched a career best with seven 3-pointers against the Panthers.  Against Green Bay, Allen scored a game-high 16 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the floor and made three 3-pointers.

Youngstown State (11-8, 6-3 Horizon) will have a chance to sweep the season series from Cleveland State (17-4, 7-2 Horizon) on Saturday, Jan. 28, when the Penguins host the Vikings. The Horizon League Network will have live coverage, beginning at 7:05 p.m. ET.

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Penguins Record 77-47 Win Over Green Bay Marking Largest Ever Horizon Margin

Youngstown State University is turning into a home game winning juggernaut.  After years of struggling to compete in the Horizon League at home, on the road, in the Giant Eagle parking lot on 224, or at a neutral site, the Penguins have finally hit stride in the comfort of the Beeghly Center.  Sunday afternoon, the train kept rolling as the Penguins disposed of Green Bay, 77-47, with little resistance.  The win was the largest ever conference margin of victory (30 points), previously 25, for the Penguins.

“We were up by 13 at the half”, said Jerry Slocum.  ”The maturation of this team has to be to put the hammer down when they get the chance to.  Coming out to start the second half, we were up 14, and it went from 14 to 20.  Our guys seized the moment with their defensive play.”

In the first half, the Phoenix held a two point lead a minute into the contest, it would be their largest and final lead of the day.  Youngstown State used an array of weapons to compile a lead as big as 18 points in the half, and eventually settled on a 38-25 margin at the break.  Blake Allen continued to produce for YSU, knocking down ten points to lead all scorers.  Kendrick Perry contributed eight and DuShawn Brooks six more to punctuate a strong half on both ends of the court for the Guins.  Coach Jerry Slocum had the luxury of using his bench frequently as eight different Penguins scored in the opening half.

“It’s a growing point and we talked at halftime about finishing”, said Perry.  ”We preach about taking care of home court and I feel we are doing a good job of that this year.”

In the second half, the Penguins did something they have had trouble with in the recent past, holding a large lead.  Through the first five minutes of the second half, YSU outscored the Phoenix, 11-7, to maintain the double-digit margin.    At the 13:55 mark of the half, the Penguins held a 51-35 advantage.  Slocum was very careful not to mass-substitute at any point always having three starters on the court while getting Shawn Amiker (above), Josh Chojnacki, Nate Perry, D J Cole, and Fletcher Larson, were able to log some valuable game minutes with various combinations of the starting five.

In between the substitutions, the glue (starting five) of the Penguins kept everything tight.  Brooks was hitting threes, Ashen Ward was hustling and getting the dirty work done, and Allen and Perry did a good job working both the shot clock, and the Green Bay defense.  With 8:43 left in the game, the Penguins held a 67-43 lead.  The other Perry, Nate, hit a couple of threes to stockpile the lead to 70-45 with 7:38 remaining.

“I wanted to bring guys in to get them time with the ones”, said Slocum.  ”Someone looked over at me and said we were up by 25.  I didn’t really care about the score as much as I did getting the bench some time to battle.  The bench players did a good job defensively for us.”

With the loss, Green Bay dipped to 3-6 in Horizon League play.  The Phoenix got XX points from Alec Brown and X rebounds from Kam Cerroni.

Youngstown State (11-8, 6-3) got 16 from Allen, 15 from Kendrick Perry, 12 from Ward, 12 from Brooks, and six from Eargle.  Eargle also had 8 rebounds and continued his streak of recording a block in every game this season early on, adding a few more to his record-nearing total.  Noteworthy in the victory was the good play Slocum got out of his bench, Nate Perry and Amiker are starting to look more confident each time they enter a game regardless of the situation or score.

The Penguins welcome Cleveland State Saturday as part of a doubleheader, which will start a half hour after the YSU women’s game that tips at 4:30 p.m.

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YSU Knocks Off First Place Milwaukee, 68-66, To Tighten Horizon Up

Many things rolled into Youngstown on Friday.  There was some nasty Winter weather making it a great night for basketball, and the good turnout of fans at the Beeghly Center were treated to a very exciting basketball game.  Milwaukee rolled into town at 6-1 flying solo atop the Horizon League standings.  ESPN also rolled in as the game aired on ESPN3.  When the smoke cleared, the Penguins stayed in the race with a thrilling 68-66 win behind a career-best 27 points from junior Blake Allen.

“I thought we battled”, said Coach Jerry Slocum.  ”We told the kids at halftime to stay up and expect Williams to play more minutes.  We also told the guys not to panic.”

In the first half, the Penguins showed their heart and determination.  Five minutes into the game, the Penguins found themselves in an 18-13 hole.  Despite the early offensive woes, Blake Allen (above) heated up scoring 22 first half points, going 6-6 from three-point range.  Allen absolutely caught fire and hoisted the Penguins to a 41-30 halftime lead.  The Penguins were doing a good job from a Goliath standpoint.  Despite being outsized, YSU was hustling and scrapping for rebounds on both ends of the floor.  Damian Eargle battled through a sore right wrist to post eight points, four boards and a pair of blocks in the opening session.

In the second half, Milwaukee closed the margin quickly.  Allen hit his career-best tying three and Kendrick Perry and Eargle had back-to-back breakaway dunks to put YSU ahead 51-41 with just over twelve minutes to play.  With YSU ahead 54-42, Milwaukee’s Ryan Allen hit for two and the  Paris Gulley connected on a pair of free throws to make it 54-48.  D. J. Cole was then fouled on a drive to the hoop with 8:28 left.  Cole hit the first of two and the Penguins jacked the lead up to seven with 7:38 to go.

“There were two keys to winning this game tonight”, said Slocum.  ”First off, we outrebounded them, and that has been an achiles heel for us.  Secondly was we hit free throws down the stretch.  It gets contagious and when they start falling, it seems like everyone is hitting.”

At the 6:25 mark, senior Ashen Ward (below) hit a pair of charity tosses increasing YSU’s fast-dwindling lead to 57-52.  Kaylon Williams nailed a three to make it a 57-54 game, and then Ward went back to the line and hit two more to give YSU the 59-54 lead. Milwaukee took a two point lead on another Williams three that made it 61-59 in favor of the Panthers.

With 3:18 left to go in the game and the Penguins trailing 62-59, Blake Allen connected on a pair of free throws to make it a one-point game.  Milwaukee converted an alley-oop to take their thee-point lead back.  With 2:40 left, Kendrick Perry hit one of two free throws to leave it a two-point Milwaukee lead at 64-62.  Perry went right back to the line to shoot a one-and-one, and he was able to make one of two. DuShawn Brooks was fouled on the rebound of the second free throw and went to the line first tying the game at 64 , and then giving the Penguins a 65-64 lead with his second.

With just under two minutes to go, Haarsma connected on a pair of free throws to lift the Panthers back in front, 66-65.  Perry was again fouled and hit one of two to tie game at 66.  After an empty possession by the Panthers, the Penguins came into their offense slowly with under a minute to play.  Ward scooped up an offensive rebound and put it back with 31 seconds to play putting the Penguins ahead, 68-66.  The crowd rose to their feet with 18 seconds to go and Milwaukee holding the rock.  A three was off the mark, but rebounded by Milwaukee, where Damian Eargle, among the national leaders in blocks, had perhaps his biggest career swat to preserve the win.

YSU got a career-best effort from Blake Allen who finished with 27, including 7-8 from three.  Eargle also compiled a double-double putting up 10 points and ten rebounds and blocking four shots, including the stuff that sealed the game.”

“They are really tough, but we have done great at home so far”, said Allen.  When asked if he was ‘in a zone’ in the first half, Allen replied, “Definitely the case.  I have been in the gym and working hard and tonight it pid off for us”.

Milwaukee got double digits out of Williams (18 points), Haarsma (14 points), Gully (13points), and Ryan Allen (11 points).

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YSU Women Drop 75-50 Decision At #11 Green Bay

The Youngstown State women’s basketball team played the 11th-ranked team in the country to within 15 points in the first 30 minutes before Green Bay pulled away to win 75-50 on Thursday evening at the Kress Events Center.  YSU trailed just 53-38 at the 9:56 mark, but the Phoenix went on a 20-5 run over the next 6:46 to separate itself from the Penguins.

YSU’s Brandi Brown led all scorers with 21 points and finished with 10 rebounds.   Kelsea Fickiesen, making her second career start, was next in line with nine points. She also had nine of YSU’s 28 turnovers, which Green Bay translated into a 33-5 edge in points off turnovers.

Lydia Bauer finished with 19 points, and Adrian Ritchie scored 17 points while making three of Green Bay’s eight triples.  YSU shot 45.2 percent overall, and Green Bay shot 49 percent. The Phoenix went 19-for-28 from the free-throw line while YSU was just 6-for-10.

The Penguins opened the second half on an 8-3 run to make the score 39-28 and force Green Bay to call an early time out. YSU still trailed just 56-40 with nine minutes left following a Brown bucket, but the Penguins scored just three points in the next six-and-a-half minutes. By that time, the Phoenix had built a 73-43 advantage.

Youngstown State will play at Milwaukee on Saturday at 3 p.m. Eastern. The game will be broadcast live on 570 WKBN.

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YSU Men To Face Milwaukee On ESPN3 Friday Night

The Youngstown State men’s basketball team (9-8, 4-2 Horizon League) returns home to entertain Horizon League-leader Milwaukee, Friday, Jan. 20, at the Beeghly Center. Tipoff is set for 7:03 p.m. (EDT) and will be broadcast nationally on ESPN3.  The first 500 students to attend will get a free t0-shirt.

This is the 30th meeting between Youngstown State and Milwaukee in an all-times series that dates back to 1972. Milwaukee owns a 24-5 advantage in the series and has won that last four games and seven of the last eight games. In the last meeting, Milwaukee outlasted the Penguins in overtime, 94-87, at the Beeghly Center.

Milwaukee is currently 13-6 overall and leads the Horizon League with a 6-1 league mark, including winning its last three contests. The Panthers are coming off victories over Wright State (58-38) on Jan. 12 and Detroit (84-74) on Jan. 14.  Kaylon Williams leads the Panthers with 11.3 points and 6.2 assists per game. Tony Meier, James Haarsma and Ja’Rob McCallum are also in double figures averaging 10.3, 10.2 and 10 points per game, respectively.

Senior Ashen Ward has been the Guins’ go-to player over the last five games. The Cleveland, Ohio, native averaged 18.4 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. He also shot 56.6 percent (30-of-53) from the floor and 58.6 percent (17-of-29)from 3-point range.

With two 3-pointers against Butler, junior Blake Allen recorded the 100th made 3-pointer of his career. Allen reached the century mark in his 47th game played, which is the second fastest in school history. Elmer Brown (1998-2000) reached 100 made 3-pointers in his 45th game.

Junior Damian Eargle has recorded a block in every game this season. He has posted multiple blocks in 15 of 17 games and has swatted at least three blocks in 14 games. Over the last four games, Eargle has tallied 19 blocked shots for an average of 5.3 blocks per contest. He has also posted at least five blocks nine times this season.

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USHL / NHL Top Prospects Game To Be Webcast Free

The United States Hockey League has announced that there will be a free online broadcast of the 2012 USHL/NHL Top Prospects Game, presented by CCM, delivered live on FASTHockey, the USHL’s exclusive online broadcast provider. The game is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 24 at the L.C. Walker Arena in Muskegon, Mich., beginning at 7:15 p.m. EST.

The game, which is the first of its kind for the USHL, will showcase many of the top USHL players eligible for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. A total of 30 players selected are in their first year of eligibility for the NHL Entry Draft. Seven of the players are draft-eligible for the second time this year. In addition, the USHL will showcase three players who are eligible to be drafted by NHL teams in 2013.

The Youngstown Phantoms will be sending three players to the event: center Austin Cangelosi, center Richard Zehnal and defenseman Chris Bradley. Additionally, Phantoms play-by-play announcer Bart Logan will be part of the FASTHockey broadcast team.

Viewers can watch the webcast live via multiple formats – the USHL’s Facebook page, through a previously established FASTHockey account, or Roku users can watch the game on the platform’s USHL channel.

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New York Penn League All-Star Game Coming To Niles, Tickets Go On Sale Monday

Every once in the while, something with a national flavor comes to the Mahoning Valley.  This year, sports fans will have the opportunity to catch the New York Penn League All-Star Game, which will be held at Eastwood Field.

The game will be played for the first time in the Mahoning Valley Scrappers team history on Tuesday, August 14, 2012.  The general public will have its first chance to purchase All-Star Game tickets beginning Monday, January 23, 2012 at 8:30 am.

Tickets will be available at the Eastwood Field Box Office, online at www.mvscrappers.com or by calling 330-505-0000. Ticket prices range from $10 to $18.

All-Star event tickets will also be available for Monday, August 13 for the All-Star Valley Gala and for the All-Star Luncheon and Post-Game Party on Tuesday, August 14.

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