Posts Tagged ‘Blake Allen’

Sophomore Kendrick Perry scored a career-high 30 points and led the Youngstown State men’s basketball team to a 73-65 victory over Milwaukee on Tuesday evening at U.S. Cellular Arena.  Perry, who connected on 9-of-16 shooting from the floor and made four 3-pointers, is the first player to score 30 points since DeAndre Mays scored 30 in 2010 and the first sophomore to score at least 30 points since Mike Alcorn posted 35 points in 1992.

Senior DuShawn Brooks and junior Damian Eargle each scored 14 points while senior Ashen Ward grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.  With the win, the Guins improve to 12-9 overall and 7-4 in the Horizon Leauge and move into sole possession of third place in the league standings.

The 12 wins are the most since the 14 victories in 2006-07 and the seven league victories match a team high since joining the league in 2001-02. The Penguins won seven league games in 2006-07 and in 2008-09.

The Panthers led by one, 24-23, with five minutes left in the first half, but a 3-pointer by Nate Perry, a triple by Ward, and another 3-pointer by Nate Perry sparked a 9-0 run and put the Guins up, 32-24, with 2:53 to go.  Kendrick Perry, who scored 16 of his 30 points in the second half, canned three straight free throws to put the Guins up nine, 35-26, before a Paris Gulley tip-in with one second left cut the Penguins lead to 35-27 at the half.

YSU began the second half on an 8-2 run to built its lead to 13 points, 43-30, after a layup by Fletcher Larson with 17:12 to go.  After the Panthers cut the deficit to nine, Brooks, who scored 11 points in the second half, started an 13-5 run with a 3-pointer and ended it with a layup to give the Guins an 18-point lead, 61-43, with 6:48 remaining.  Milwaukee whittled the lead down to six, 67-61, with 1:55 to go, but two free throws by Perry, a dunk and two free throws by Eargle sealed the game for the Penguins.

YSU will continue their three-game road trip against UIC, Thursday, Feb. 2, at 8 p.m. in Chicago, Ill.

The Youngstown State men’s basketball team will visit Ohio Valley Conference member Austin Peay in the 2012 Sears BracketBusters announced on Monday evening.

The Penguins (11-9, 6-4 Horizon) and Governors (9-14, 6-4 OVC) have met 14 times while the Guins were members of the OVC, but have not faced each other since 1988.  Youngstown State owns an 8-6 advantage in the all-time series but the Governors have won the last four meetings.  YSU has not won in Clarksville, Tenn., since a 62-57 victory on Feb. 16, 1984.

The Penguins own a 4-4 record in BracketBusters games and are 1-0 against the Ohio Valley Conference, defeating Eastern Kentucky, 66-61, on Feb. 17, 2007.

Dates and times for the game will be announced at a later date, but the location is set, as well as the matchup.

The Youngstown State men’s basketball team (11-9, 6-4 Horizon League) embarks on its longest trek of the season – a seven-day, three-game road trip – when it visits Milwaukee, Tuesday, Jan. 31, at the U.S. Cellular Arena. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. (EDT) and will be broadcast on 570 WKBN-AM.

This is the 31st meeting between Youngstown State and Milwaukee in an all-time series that dates back to 1972. Milwaukee leads the series 24-6. The Guins snapped a four-game losing streak to the Panthers with a 68-66 win on Jan. 20 at the Beeghly Center. The last time the Penguins won in Milwaukee was a 68-65 win on Dec. 10, 2006. The last time YSU swept the season series against Milwaukee was during the 2006-07 season.

After Milwaukee, the Penguins travel to UIC for a Thursday night game.  The road trip ends on Sunday with a game at Loyola which tips off at 2 p.m.

If the Penguins are to have any shot at winning the Horizon League, they need to win at least two out of these three games as Butler and Valparaiso loom next week for a pair of big home games.

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.

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.

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).

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.

Hot is a weak adjective to describe the way YSU played on both sides of the court in a 71-50 win over UIC.  The Penguins (9-6, 4-1) ran out to a 15-2 lead and never trailed in a game that they played like they should win.  With a stretch next week on the road at Valpo and Butler, the Penguins seem to be hitting stride at jut the right time.

Ashen Ward led a barrage of offense filled with threes and second chances.  Ward finished the game with 22 points, his third in a row with twenty plus, all wins.  It also marked a season-high for Ward.

“We started well and made shots”, said Ward.  “Our defense actually created chances for the offense.  Blake [Allen] did a great job pushing the ball tonight, Damian [Eargle] was setting good screens, and everyone was rebounding.”

At the half, the Penguins held a commanding 36-22 lead.  Kendrick Perry, steady as they come this season, had nine points to go along with four rebounds and four assists. Ward, DuShawn Brooks, and Damian Eargle all had seven apiece at intermission. Eargle also compiled three first half blocks.  For a team with no ‘big guy’, Eargle sure does play big.  The Guins managed a good 55% from the floor in the first half.

In the second half, Ward (above) heated up.  The Cleveland, Ohio native scored seven consecutive points on two threes and a free throw to give the Penguins a 46-24 lead with 16:26 left in the game.  Perry and Blake Allen ran a beautiful two-on-one fast break that saw constant ball movement ending with a nice alley-oop pass that Perry laid in.  That made the lead 55-28 with 13:14 to go.

“This is probably the best we have guarded since I have been here”, said Slocum.  “When the shots go in at a 57 % clip, it’s really pretty easy.”

With just over ten minutes to go in the contest and the result pretty well determined, Coach Slocum started to unload the bench.

The Penguins played balanced and unselfishly.  Ward finished with the most points, with 22.  Look for him to be named Horizon League Player of The Week by Tuesday.  Eargle was solid as he racked up 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 blocks.  Perry had 13 points, Allen contributed 10 more.

“Ash is our leader”, said Slocum.  “He’s the voice in the locker room, the voice on the floor, he pushes guys to practice harder, and he is probably the best leader I have had since I got here.”

UIC (5-11, 1-5) got 11 points out of Hayden Humes.  To their credit, UIC never quit playing and cut the lead to 64-47 with 3:33 to go, but the Penguins stockpiled enough wood in the shed to easily outlast them.

Almost 84 years ago to the day, the Youngstown State men’s basketball team won their first game.  The win was on January 14, 1928 against Clarion in a season that consisted of just three games.  Fast forward through a Great Depression and a couple of wars and the Penguins, still progressing forward, nabbed their 1,000th win against Loyola, 68-64, in an overtime thriller.

“I’m proud to be part of this program’s 1,000th win”, said coach Jerry Slocum.  “You have to recognize Coach Roselli and what he has meant to Youngstown and to basketball.  It is important that he is mentioned on a landmark night like tonight.”

In the first half, the Penguins did a good job defensively and scored enough to hold the lead for most of the half. Ashen Ward had the hot hand the first twenty minutes for YSU, hitting on 4-6 from the field including a couple of threes.  Ward led all scorers at the break with ten points.

“We believed we were supposed to win this game”, said Ward.  “We have to keep our confidence and stay with our routine and we should be alright for Saturday’s game.”

The Penguins shot a dismal 43.5 % from the line on 10-23 shooting.  Ward made light of the percentage.  “Coach will have us shooting a lot at practice tomorrow.”

The Penguins had the lead up to eight with just over two minutes to go.  Damian Eargle had three blocks in the first half, a half that the Penguins did not give up a single point off of a turnover.  The result of the solid defensive effort was a 29-22 lead at intermission.

In the second half, Loyola came out strong.  Ben Averkamp hit his fourth three-pointer with 14:02 to go, giving the Ramblers a 40-39 lead.  The Ramblers increased their lead to four points at 49-45, but the Penguins roared back on a pair of Eargle free throws and a Ward three to reclaim the lead with 8:50 left in the game.

Trailing 53-52, Blake Allen nailed a three to give the Guins a two-point edge with 4:58 left to play.  YSU got the ball down two with 44 seconds remaining.  Perry was fouled with 22.6 seconds left in regulation and knocked down one of two free throws to tie the game for the Penguins.  Loyola played for the last shot, which went to Averkamp, but he could not get a quality look at the hoop and the game went into overtime.

In the extra session, YSU trailed by two when Eargle was fouled while scoring but couldn’t hit the free throw to give the Penguins the lead.  Gibler took a nice feed for an easy two to give the Ramblers a 62-60 lead with 2:42 remaining.  Ward was fouled and hit one of two charity tosses to cut Loyola’s lead to one.  Perry made a nice drive with about two minutes to go to give the Penguins their first lead of the overtime.

Eargle hit a fifteen footer on the right baseline to give YSU a 65-64 lead with 48.3 seconds remaining.  On their next possession, Ward stole the ball and was pushed to get sent back to the line where the senior from Cleveland drilled both to put YSU ahead 67-64.  With Averkamp fouled out, Loyola was looking to Gibler for offense.  The Penguins figured that out and DuShawn Brooks hit one of two free throws to make it a two possession game.

Ward led the Penguins offensive effort with 21 points.  Allen tossed in 11, and Eargle contributed 14 points to go along with his 6 blocks and 9 rebounds. Kendrick Perry had a balanced effort with 4 assists, 13 points, and 9 rebounds.

Averkamp was a nightmare to defend causing problems by hitting from everywhere on the floor.  It’s tough to compensate on defense when the other team’s big guy is knocking down threes.  Averkamp finished with 23 points , Walt Gibler was Averkamp’s Robin, knocking down 26 sneaky points of his own.

“Those two big guys took us to school in the post tonight”, said Slocum.  “The kids played hard and it was an ugly game but it was not because of a lack of effort, they battled.  We held Averkamp in check from about the nine minute mark and the defense had some big stops down the stretch.”

YSU (8-6, 3-1) faces UIC on Saturday night at the Beeghly Center.  The Penguins then head to the road next week for games against Butler and Valpo.

The Youngstown State men’s basketball team (7-6, 2-1 Horizon League) searches for the program’s 1000th win when it hosts Loyola(5-9, 0-4 Horizon League), Thursday Jan. 5, at 7:05 p.m. at the Beeghly Center.

Decades of student athletes have contributed to this figure.  It is a nice accomplishment for a school, and it would be even nicer to see some support in the stands for the game.

This is the 26th meeting between Youngstown State and Loyola in a series that dates back to 1956. Loyola leads the all-time series, 14-11, and has won the three contests. Last season, Loyola swept the season series, including an 83-53 victory at the Beeghly Center. The last time YSU defeated Loyola was a 71-67 win on Jan. 9, 2010, at the Beeghly Center.

In the latest NCAA stats released on Jan. 1, YSU can be found throughout several categories. The Penguins rank fifth nationally wiht 9.6 3-pointers made per game, 20th with 6.8 blocks per game and 33rd with a .388 3-point field-goal percentage. Individually, besides Damian Eargle, Blake Allen is ninth with a with 3.2 3-pointers made per game 36th with a .438 3-point percentage.