Youngstown State University handed Fredonia State a 69-35 defeat at home Tuesday night.  This game was not much of a contest, but Coach Jerry Slocum found solace in getting his bench a good chunk of playing time in a game situation.  The Penguins took a 31-12 lead into half and never looked back.

“We have been in so many close games lately that it makes it hard to develop guys who don’t get a lot of playing time”, noted Slocum.  “I was really happy with Fletcher Larson‘s play in the post and DJ [Cole] did a good job at the point for us.”

With the victory, YSU improves to 6-2 while the Blue Devils drop to 6-2. The 35 points allowed on Tuesday by the Penguins were the fewest in a contest since Hiram had just 35 on Dec. 22, 1970.

Leading the way offensively was Blake Allen who scored 14 points, DuShawn Brooks (above) finished with 13 points, 11 of which came in the first half and Kendrick Perry had 12. For FSU, Julius Bryant had a team-high 13 points and six rebounds.

The Penguins used the night to get some reserves involved. For the game, 12 players saw at least eight minutes of action while none played more than 25.  Nine players saw double figures in minutes on the evening for YSU.

On the defensive end, YSU held the Blue Devils to just 31.9 percent shooting from the field (15-of-47). The Penguins shot 50.9 percent (29-of-57) and were 9-of-24 from behind the 3-point arc. The team’s combined to attempt just 14 free throws.

YSU never trailed after scoring the first five points of the game. Fredonia cut the deficit to 5-2 then the Penguins went on a 10-0 run and never looked back. Capping the run were the first collegiate points for redshirt freshman Fletcher Larson (above). Larson’s tip in of a miss by Shawn Amiker gave the Guins a 15-2 lead at the 12:48 mark of the first half.

Slocum talked about Brooks elevating his game over the pat couple of weeks.

“We sat him down a couple of weeks ago and told him he was only going to take what he puts in.  He was probably the best player on the floor these last three games and he has played really well for us.

Blake Allen talked about the team effort.  “Coach wanted us to hold them under 40 points.  We also wanted to have more assists than turnovers.  There is a lot of room for improvement, but we were overall pretty happy with the effort.”

The Penguins return to action on Saturday when they play at Buffalo. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. The game will be carried live on 570 WKBN.