In front of the fourth largest crowd in the history of the Beeghly Center (6,311), Youngstown State couldn’t get synchronized and fell to Cleveland State, 67-47.  The Vikings played great defense and the Penguins, as Coach Jerry Slocum said at the post-game press conference, ‘self-imploded’.  The Penguins struggled mightily from behind the arc in this one, going 4-24.

“We got beat in every facet of this game tonight”, said Slocum.  “I don’t think we handled the moment very well.  We played outside of our basketball IQ and they didn’t play any different than they did the first time.”

In the first half, things were tight with Cleveland State holding a 15-12 lead with eight minutes played.  The Vikings would close out the half with a 26-7 run to establish a commanding 41-19 lead at the half.  Cleveland State applied full-court pressure almost the entire first half, which didn’t seem to bother YSU as much as the Penguins struggling to run their normal half-court sets in half the time.

Only five Penguins, the starters, (Damian Eargle, Ashen Ward, DuShawn Brooks, Kendrick Perry and Blake Allen) scored in the first half.  The Penguins were a dismal 2-14 from behind the arc.  Conversely, Cleveland State was hot, nailing 6-8 long balls.  Trevon Harmon and Anton Grady had nine and eight points respectively for the Vikings in the first half.

In the second half, Cleveland State kept their foot on the gas pedal.  With 11:28 to go in the contest, the Vikings were firmly in control of the game with a 56-35 lead.  The tremendous half-court defense of the Vikings was forcing YSU into taking a lot of shots they normally would not.  The game would also evolve into a very physical battle with plenty of hard fouls, pushing, and shoving.

YSU sliced the CSU lead to 17 when Kendrick Perry hit a ten-footer to make it a 58-41 game with 7:17 remaining. The Vikings were able to weather the storm and recover before Slocum emptied the YSU bench with about three minutes to play.

“Our big wins did not make our year”, remarked Slocum.  “Last week when we beat Milwaukee, I told you that it would not make our year.  This loss will not break our year.  Give them credit, they are a very good team, but our play tonight didn’t help our chances.”

Cleveland State (18-4, 8-2) got 10 points from Harmon, 8 each from Pogue and Charlie Lee, and Anton Grady had a big night scoring 14 points and pulling down 11 boards.  The Vikings clamped a stronger grip on first place in the Horizon League with the win.  Furthermore, the Vikings nullified YSU’s win earlier this season at Cleveland State.

“We came in with a chip on our shoulder”, said the Vikings Jeremy Montgomery.  “We knew we had to stay focused on defense and keep the pressure on to shake things up.  Our full-court pressure forced them into quicker sets and that is what we drew up for this game.”

YSU, suffering one of their poorest shooting efforts of the season, got 11 points from  Allen, and ten each from Perry and Eargle.  Eargle also recorded five blocks in the contest.  The Penguins slipped to 11-9, and 6-4 in the Horizon League.

Youngstown State hits the road to face Loyola, UIC, and Milwaukee.