Youngstown State University had to play with nothing left to lose.  After all, the Penguins dropped the first meeting 91-61 on January 16 and wanted to pick up some steam heading into Bracketbusters on Feb. 20.  Surely a win, or at least a good showing against #15 Butler shoud help compile confidence.

Half of the battle was won, as the Penguins made a respectable showing against the powerful Bulldogs ultimately falling 68-57.  Butler (22-4, 15-0) clinched the Horizon League Championship with the win and is very capable of advancing a few rounds in the NCAA Tournament come March. 

With 12:44 left in the first half, Butler raced out to a 16-8 lead, but Ashen Ward gathered in a long deflection and hit a cutting DeAndre Mays for a pair to cut the early Bulldog lead to six points. 

The Penguins cut the lead to one point at the 8:05 mark on a Kelvin Bright three-pointer.  Youngstown State was playing a great game defensively in the early going.  With Butler ahead 18-17, Mays nailed a three to give YSU their first lead of the game.  Vytas Sulskis hit another to put YSU up 23-18 as the large Beeghly Center crowd got loud.

The Penguins extended their lead to seven with 4:17 left in the first half when Mays hit a layup for his twelfth point of the half.  It was the first half that no one would have expected and the lead grew to eight.  Unfortunately for Youngstown State, things started unraveling and Butler used a blast of offense to take a halftime lead and had an 11-2 run to put themselves a point in front of Youngstown State at 31-30.

Butler took advantage of shoddy YSU ball control to start the second half.  Over the first seven minutes, the Penguins turned the ball over five times.  Coach Jerry Slocum commented on the poor second half start.  “We had five turnovers in our first six possessions in the second half.  This game was lost during those first seven minutes of the second half.  You can’t keep a good team like that down too long when you have that many empty possessions.  Another turning point in the game was when [Matt] Howard got his fourth foul and they want one big and four small, we did not match up well at that point.”

Butler was paced by Gordon Hayward (pictured) who finished the contest with 22 points and 17 rebounds, more than half of his team total of 31.  The 6’9″ Sophomore Guard was 8-9 from the free throw line and played a very well-rounded 36 minutes.  Zach Hahn seemed to keep the Penguins at bay down the stretch as his eight points all came at crucial times.

Butler Coach Brad Stevens was happy to escape with the win.  “This time of the year you just try to take a win, get better, and move on.  The guards and players for YSU scare every coach in this conference because when they get it going, they are really hard to stop.  They played a great game and it is a big road win for us.”

Butler heads to Cleveland State next for a Saturday matchup where they have had fits.  Youngstown State (8-16, 2-12) hosts Valparaiso Saturday night.

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