Youngstown -- The Youngstown State men's basketball team put a scare into 15th-ranked Butler, but the Penguins came up short dropping a 68-57 contest to the Bulldogs on Thursday night at the Beeghly Center. YSU was within four points with just under six minutes remaining, before Butler grabbed control for good.

The Penguins (8-16 overall and 2-12 in the Horizon League) trailed by just one point following Vance Cooksey's 3-pointer with 10:55 remaining. Butler (22-4 and 15-0) went ahead 52-45 at the 7:51 mark, but YSU hung tough and trailed just 53-49 on a Vytas Sulskis basket with 5:55 left.

From that point, Butler scored the next 10 points holding the Guins scoreless for 2:30 to seize control of the game.

Butler's Gordon Hayward scored a game-high 22 points while DeAndre Mays finished with a team-high 18 for the Guins. Sulskis added 14 for YSU and Cooksey finished with 11.

For the game, Butler shot 56.1 percent (23-of-41) and 50 percent (8-of-16) from behind the 3-point line. YSU made 19-of-47 field-goal attempts (40.4 percent).

The Penguins led by seven late in the first half only to allow Butler to come back and take a 31-30 lead at the break. In the opening half, both teams made 10 field goals and combined to make 10 3-pointers (six by YSU and four by the Bulldogs). The Bulldogs dominated the glass grabbing 16 boards compared to YSU's seven.

Butler threatened to run away with the contest early scoring 16 of the games first 21 points. But the Penguins settled down using a 15-2 spurt to get back in the ball game and take their first lead of the night at 20-18 on a 3-pointer by Mays.

YSU kept the pressure on and scored seven of the next nine points to lead 28-20 following a Kelvin Bright free throw at the 2:50 mark. The Guins outscored Butler 23-4 from the 13:26 mark to the 2:50 mark of the first half. The Bulldogs connected on just one field goal during that stretch, a layup by Shawn Vanzant with 9:52 left in the half.

Butler ended the half strong outscoring the Guins 11-2 in the final two-and-a-half minutes. The Bulldogs had the final six points of the stanza after falling behind 30-25 to grab the slim lead. Willie Veasley drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key and Gordon Hayward's three-point play with 3.6 seconds left gave Butler its first lead since 8:39.

Youngstown State returns to action on Saturday when they play host to Valparaiso. Tipoff for the contest against the Crusaders is set for 7:05 p.m.