Box Score Pittsburgh, Pa. – Junior Kendrick Perry scored a career-high 34 points and hit a 3-pointer with 3.4 seconds left to force overtime, but the Youngstown State men's basketball dropped an 83-80 decision to North Dakota State on Monday afternoon at the A.J. Palumbo Center.
With the loss, the Penguins fall to 3-1 overall while the Bison improve to 3-1.
The Penguins shot 38 percent in a game that featured 13 ties and nine lead changes. NDSU shot 40 percent from the floor and were led by Mike Felt's 24 points off the bench.
Perry's 34 points is the second 30-point performance of his career and the most points scored by a YSU player since Quin Humphry's 35 against Wright State on Feb. 22, 2007
Perry, who scored 10 straight points in the last 29.4 seconds of regulation, drove in for a layup with 10 seconds left to cut the deficit to three, 64-61.
After NDSU missed two free throws, Perry drained second triple of the game to tie the game with 3.4 seconds to go. NDSU's desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer was off.
The Penguins used that momentum and scored the first four points of overtime on a Perry jumper and a dunk by Damian Eargle to take a 68-64 lead with 4:23 remaining.
Two three-pointers by NDSU's TrayVonn Wright and Mike Felt gave the Bison a 70-68 edge with 2:39 to go.
The Penguins knotted the game for the final time, 72-72, on a jumper by Perry at the 1:42 mark.
Felt made two free-throws and drained another 3-pointer as the shot clock expired to put NDSU up five, 77-72 with 47 seconds left.
Perry hit another jumper with 29 seconds to bring the Guins within three, 77-74, but the Bison six straight free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.
Youngstown State trailed by nine early in the second half, but the Guins scored nine straight to tie the game at 36-36 with 16:20 left.
The Penguins went scoreless for nearly seven minutes and NDSU pushed its lead back to 41-36 with 12 minutes to go.
Junior Kamren Belin, who posted his first career double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds, spurred an 18-13 YSU run with nine points over the run nine minutes to tie the game at 54-54 for the 10th time at the 3:20 mark.
The Bison scored two more baskets to take a 58-54 edge with 1:41 before Perry went on his tear
The first half saw multiple exchanges of runs between the Penguins and the Bison.
NDSU scored eight of the game's first 10 points before the Guins took a 16-10 lead on Allen's jumper with 12:10 left. Perry made three free-throws and a 3-pointer to ignite the spurt and Allen scored all four of his first-half points during that span.
The Bison regained the lead, 19-18, with a 9-2 run before the Penguins scored six straight to take a 24-19 lead at the 6:21 mark. Eargle capped the run with a jumper and two free throws.
The Penguins, though, allowed the Bison to close out the half on a 15-3 scoring binge to enter halftime with a seven-point lead, 34-27.
YSU shot just 34.6 percent in the first half and did not make a field goal over the final six minutes of the half.
The Penguins face James Madison, Tuesday, Nov. 20, at 4:30 p.m. at the A.J. Palumbo Center.
