Youngstown State University had been struggling all season to maintain consistency. This year, the team has shown signs of being able to hang with anybody, and conversely being error-prone and careless while struggling.  The majority of Sunday afternoon’s game against Wisconsin-Green Bay was the careless version of YSU Basketball. 

Youngstown State fell to 7-12 (2-8 Horizon League) as Green Bay capitalized on poor second half Penguins free throw shooting and handled the Penguins, 69-55. 

“At one point, we missed seven or eight foul shots in a row.  We are playing as bad of basketball as we have played in the last three or four years and it is very diappointing to see us playing with such lifelessness”, was about all Coach Jerry Slocum had to say at the end of this one.

At the 7:48 mark of the first half, the Penguins were caught somewhere in between doing the little things needed to win and not doing the big things well. Green Bay had a 23-17 lead when Kelvin Bright connected from just inside the foul line with a nice fadeaway jumper to cut the lead to three.

With Green Bay over the first half limit, Ashen Ward was fouled grabbing a defensive rebound. Ward swished both ends of a one-and-one to pull the Penguins to a two-point deficit.  Troy Cotton, who had 14 points with 3:51 left in the first half, buried a three to extend the Wisconsin-Green Bay lead to 31-26.  Cotton finished the game with a career-high seven three-pointers.

At halftime, the Phoenix held a 33-30 lead.  Cotton was the overall scoring leader with 14 points.  The Penguins were staying in the game with good free throw shooting (11-14, 78.6%), a luxury they had not enjoyed often this season.

Bryquis Perine was whistled for a technical foul at the 17:39 mark as he and Dallas Blocker were doing a little extra-curricular pushing and shoving while jogging up the court together. The penalty would be insignificant as Mays missed both free throws and a walking call awarded the Phoenix possession to keep the score at 40-36.

Cotton hit another three, his fifth of the game, to stretch the Green Bay lead to 47-40 with 12:25 left in regulation. Rian Pearson hit a layup while being fouled, hit the free throw, and the Penguins suddenly trailed 50-40 in a game they had not held the lead in.

With just under four minutes remaining in the contest, Milwaukee pushed the lead to 16 points at 65-49, their largest lead of the game. Rahmon Fletcher hit a three in the corner to give the Phoenix the increased advantage. The Penguns were really struggling to find solutions to trim the margin as they had gone nearly eight full minutes without a field goal.  As the time clicked away, Green Bay (15-7, 7-3) maintained a comfortable cushion and turned back the Penguins, 69-55.

YSU welcomes non-conference opponent North Carolina Central on Wednesday night for a 7:05 tip-off at the Beeghly Center.