Posts Tagged ‘DuShawn Brooks’

The Horizon League is probably the most unrecognized conference in NCAA-DI basketball.  UIC was YSU’s opponent on this holiday evening, and UIC had just beaten then-ranked #12 Illinois a couple of games back.  The Horizon League is no slouch, ask Duke.  As the conference rises in prominence, Youngstown State is trying to evolve with it.  The Penguins had not won a conference game in their last 13 chances.  Throw out the records and chalk up a conference win for the Penguins, 71-69, over UIC.

The first half featured good shooting by both squads.  Youngstown State had a lead as big as nine points in that first half, but UIC marched right back into things before half and the Penguins only lead 34-32 at intermission.  The story in the first half was three-pointers.  Both teams shot over 40 percent with YSU connecting on 7-17 and UIC nailing 4-7.

Ashen Ward had a career best night for the Penguins.  Ward was Mr. Instant in the first half connecting on 4-6 threes and finished the half with 14 points on his way to a career-high in points.  Ward hit another three in the opening minutes of the second half, he was on fire.  With 16:24 left in the game, UIC nabbed the lead, 40-39, when Robo Kreps hit a free throw to complete a three point play.  Ward responded with a deuce to give YSU the lead back on their next possession.

With YSU trailing 46-43, DuShawn Brooks hit a runner from the right side of the key coming in to cut UIC’s lead to one point.  Tre Brewer hit a finger roll to put YSU back up by one with just over twelve minutes to go in the game.  YSU was not getting many inside chances and had only attempted one free throw up to the 11:32 mark when Vytas Sulskis hit a pair to put YSU ahead, 49-47.

With YSU ahead 57-53 with UIC’s Paul Carter hit a runner from the left side and was fouled by Sulskis.  Carter hit the free throw to complete the old-school three and the game was tied again with 8:18.  Ashen Ward then hit his sixth and seventh threes of the game to push YSU’s lead to 63-58.  With 3:24 left in the game, and YSU holding a very slim lead of 65-64, Brewer gathered an offensive rebound and was fouled trying to put it back.  Brewer was unable to connect with either charity toss and UIC ended up taking a two point lead when Carter was fouled while shooting a three.

With 1:41 left in the game, YSU trailed 67-65.  Sulskis hit a spinning layup to tie things up at the 1:31 mark.  UIC could not score on their end and with less than a minute to go and the score tied at 67 apiece, Ward was fouled and hit one of two to put the Penguins up a point at 68-67 with 41.3 seconds remaining.  Carter hit a 15-foot jumper with 24 seconds left to put UIC back up by one in this see-saw battle.

Sulskis was fouled, a blessing for YSU fans because he nails his free throws, hit a pair to give YSU a 70-69 lead with 15.9 seconds to go in the game.  Kreps drove the hoop but threw up a wild prayer that barely drew iron.  Blake Allen hauled in the rebound with 2.9 seconds to go and was immediately fouled and put to the line.  Allen hit one of two to put the Penguins ahead 71-69 with 2.2 seconds to go.  UIC inbounded the ball but could not get better than a three-quarter court look and YSU held on for the dramatic win, 71-69.

Youngstown State (6-6, 1-2) was led by Ward, who posted a career-high with 26 points.  Ward answered every time the UIC seemed to gain momentum by hitting a huge bucket.  Ward finished the game 9-14 from the floor and 7-10 from three-point land.

UIC (5-9, 0-2) got 19 points from Carter who did all he could to keep the Flames in the game down the stretch.

After the game, Jerry Slocum commented on his team’s big conference win.  “We got a huge boost from our bench tonight.  Ash [Ashen Ward] stepped up and hit some big baskets.  They were keeping a close eye on Vytas [Sulskis] and that freed Ash up to get some good looks.  We have been asking Ashen to do a little more offensively and to take more shots.  The whole team battled hard and we came out with a big win.”

Ward commented on his holiday success.  “We took some extra shooting practice and it paid off tonight.  Give credit to our bench, they played well and everyone played hard.”

Youngstown State returned home to play a game a few days after being trounced by Robert Morris, 90-60.  To make matters worse, one of the team leaders, Ashen Ward, would be inactive with back spasms.  The Penguins last played Malone in 1963, and won that game 117-81.  Monday night, parody showed 50 years of progress and the Penguins didn’t post such a lopsided number, but managed to win the game behind stellar efforts from Vytas Sulskis and Damian Eargle.

The first half saw a sluggish Penguins team establish their presence inside.  Only four Penguins managed to score in the first half. Damian Eargle and Vytas Sulskis combined for 25 of the Penguins 33 first half points.  The other two Penguins to get any points in the opening half were Tre Brewer with five, and Dan Boudler contributing three.  Malone held their ground and trailed by only two at the intermission with the score YSU 33, and Malone 31.

Coach Jerry Slocum was handed a pretty cheap technical foul (below) with 6:31 left in the first half to help Malone stay in the game on a four-point swing.  Malone was paced by Eric Coblentz’s 12 in the opening half.

Coblentz gave Malone a 41-39 lead when he buried a three for his twelfth point as the Pioneers, who shot 45% from long distance in the first half stayed red hot.  Eargle responded with a bucket giving him 16 points, a new career high, to tie the game at 41 with 15:49 left in the game.  Sulskis and Eargle continued to propel the offense which pushed the lead to five with 12:00 remaining.  Sulskis hit a thunderous running dunk off of the right baseline to force the Pioneers to use a timeout to regroup.

Eargle was a man possessed and created problems for the Pioneers all night long.  He was blocking shots, making passes, and scoring. Sulskis hit his season-high 20th point to put YSU up 57-51 with 9:45 left.  The pesky Pioneers were surviving behind the arc hitting 50% for the game to this point.  YSU held a 64-54 lead with 7:53 remaining in the game.

The Penguins took their largest lead of the game with 6:11 left when Blake Allen hit a free throw giving YSU a 12-point lead with 6:21 left at 67-55.  DuShawn Brooks was starting to feel it hitting his second three of the night and recording his eighth point to push the Penguin advantage to 14.

Sulskis (above) finished the game with 25 points, one short of a career high on 10-12 shooting.  He also gathered nine rebounds.  Eargle would have his best all-around game as a Penguin.  Eargle finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds, posting his first double-double of the season.  Eargle and Sulskis were virtually everywhere and played scintillating basketball.  Tre Brewer also recorded a career-high in both points (13) and rebounds (14).

Eric Coblentz played very well for Malone and finished with 21 points.

With the win, YSU improved to 5-4 on the season, but more importantly, seemed to pick up the pieces after a disastrous road trip in preparation for North Carolina State and Kent State in the immediate future.

Coach Jerry Slocum was reflective on his team’s effort.  “We got past the shackles of a hard loss and ran a lot of motion.  We played very well and regrouped.  That road trip we just came off of, every one of those teams did well in tournaments last season.  Heading to NC State and playing an ACC team will be tough, but I feel Kent State has their best team this season.  They will both be very hard games for us.”

Vytas Sulskis reflected on the night.  “Me and Damian are roommates and we had good chemistry going tonight.  We were finding each other and it wasn’t planned, it just worked that way.  I was hot tonight.”

Slocum praised the efforts of both Sulskis and Eargle as well. “Vytas played really well on both ends of the court tonight.  He and Damian toughened up on defense and we found a way to get into a rhythm in the second half.”

The new-look Youngstown State University basketball team welcomed another MAC team to Beeghly Center Wednesday.  Toledo came into this game 0-5 and was searching for answers.  The Rockets left Youngstown scratching their heads, and Coach Jerry Slocum picked up his 632nd career victory.  The Penguins remained undefeated at home and improved to 3-1 on the young season with a 73-67 win over Toledo.

Youngstown State looked sharp at times in the first half, but also looked rough during stretches.  Coach Slocum talked about what he expected out of the gate tonight.  “We had a tough loss the other night, and I was really anxious to see how this team would respond to a tough loss.”  True, it was a bit sluggish, but when this team gets going, they are a force.

Vytas Sulskis showed no ill effects of a hyperextended knee suffered at Akron.  Sulskis hit three times from long distance and finished the first half with 11 points and four rebounds and would finish the contest with 20 points for YSU.  However, the Penguins trailed the Rockets 34-33 at intermission.  Toledo got nine first half points from Malcolm Griffin and the Rockets out-boarded the Penguins 21-14 in the opening session.  Griffin finished the game with 18 points.

In the second half, Sulskis continued to score as he hit two free throws with 14:14 left in the game to put YSU ahead 45-43.  Toledo cut the lead to one when Zack Leahy hit a trey to make it 47-46.  Richard Wonell gave the Rockets a three-point lead with just over twelve minutes remaining with an easy bucket in the paint that made it 50-47, Toledo.

Damian Eargle tied the game at 52 and was fouled on an offensive rebound put back attempt on the Penguins next possession.  Eargle hit one of the two and then scored his fifth consecutive point on a nifty reverse layup.  Eargle made it seven straight points the next trip up the court, and there was no doubt that the Warren G. Harding grad was in the zone.  The Penguins would ride the hot hand of Eargle to take a 57-54 lead with 8:23 left in the game.  Devonte Maymon hit a pair of free throws to extend the YSU lead to 59-54 with 7:49 left in the game.

Eargle was dominating the game on both sides of the court in the second half.  He was scoring, blocking shots, rebounding (on both sides of the court), and passing.  Eargle finished the game with six blocks, a career-high, as well as 15 points and six boards and commented on how he is approaching this season after being stuck on the bench all of last season.  “I feel like I can get better every game, and I can see myself doing more.  We are really feeding off of the energy of the crowd and it seems like there are a few more people coming each time we win.”

With YSU ahead 65-58 with 3:26 left in the game, Griffin stole a pass and drove the floor for a bucket to cut the YSU lead to 65-60.

YSU kept their foot on the gas pedal with a five point lead and 2:42 left in the game.  Ashen Ward drilled a three with just under two minutes left in the game to increase the Penguins lead to 70-63.  Ward has been the guy who hits the big shot in a couple of instances this season.  Eargle also played a key role in preserving the win with a couple of blocks and rebounds in the waning minutes.  Slocum credited DuShawn Brooks after the game as the “unsung hero” pointing out that Eargle was the recipient of some nice passes from Brooks at the high post.

After the game, Jerry Slocum talked about what he would be thankful for, and it wasn’t a win.  “I am very thankful for my family.  I know that all of this can take its toll and it really gets hard sometimes. My wife and my kids have put up with a lot, and I could not be more thankful than to have such a great family.”

Sulskis left the media room with a big smile on his face.  “Man, is my turkey gonna taste good tomorrow.”

The Youngstown State University has undergone a major transformation.  Between graduation and the departing transfers, there were only a few familiar faces with any experience.  One face that hasn’t changed is that of Jerry Slocum.  Slocum pretty much had to rebuild the team from the ground up.  Vytas Sulskis, Ashen Ward, and Dan Boudler were really the only guys who returned with game experience from last season.

YSU parlayed some new chemistry with some clutch free throw shooting down the stretch to get to 1-0 and defeating Samford at The Beeghly Center by the score of 64-61.

Samford University stopped in for a visit Friday night in the opener for both teams.  The pace was flat for both teams in the early going and by halftime, the score would be tied five times and there was one lead change.  Basically, Youngstown State had the lead for the first half of the first half.  Samford took the reigns and held on through halftime. Vytas Sulskis looked good for the Penguins in the first half. Nearly all other Penguins looked inconsistent and sluggish.

As a team, the Penguins were really struggling, throwing up 17 three point shots in the first half and only connecting on two.

At the 15:20 mark of the second half, YSU held a 34-31 lead.  Sulskis and Devonte Mayman had nine points apiece for the Penguins to this point.  Kendrick Perry hit a three to give the Penguins the lead at 37-34.  On their next possession, DuShawn Brooks buried a three to increase the lead to 40-34 with 12:15 remaining.

Jeffrey Merritt did his best to keep Samford in the game.  Merritt gathered an offensive rebound and hit a shot while being fouled to cut the lead to three.  Maymon hit a drive falling while being fouled and somehow connected to put the Penguins ahead, 51-42 with 6:06 left in the game.

Samford’s Josh Davis buried a three-pointer with 3:34 left in the game cutting YSU’s lead to just three points at 56-53. Next trip down the floor, Merritt drove the middle, drew a foul, and got his shot to fall.  From there, Brooks took over for YSU, first tipping in a missed shot and then nailing a three with 1:47 left in the game to put the Penguins ahead 61-57.

Merritt buried a three with 11.7 seconds left in the game cutting the YSU lead to just one point at 61-60.  Merritt was high-scorer for the Bulldogs with 19 points, and he also grabbed 11 rebounds.

Sulskis was intentionally fouled with 9.8 seconds left and hit both free throws to increase the YSU lead to 63-60.

DuShawn Brooks was impressive in his Penguins debut, scoring 20 points and grabbing six boards.  Devonte Maymon was also tough knocking down 15.  Sulskis finished the game with 13 points and ten boards for his third career double-double.

After the game, a cheery Coach Jerry Slocum addressed what effected his team early.  “I don’t know if it was so much being sluggish as it was emotional.  We were really jacked-up tonight and once things calmed down we were better at knocking down our shots.”

Sulskis shared the sentiment of Slocum.  “Last season we would have hung our heads and would not have responded.  This year is much different we are more like a family and stayed together, pulled through when it counted most.”

YSU gets back into action on Tuesday with another home game, welcoming in Buffalo.  Tipoff is 7:05.