Box Score
Closing out the final day of the YSU / J. Arnold Wealth Management Company Basketball Tournament, the Youngstown State men's basketball team dropped a hard-fought contest to Niagara at the Beeghly Center on Sunday, 58-53.
Niagara led for nearly 37 minutes, with the only YSU lead of the contest coming after a Jamir Thomas rebound and put-back basket with 5:07 remaining in the first half – a 16-15 lead that lasted 17 seconds. The Purple Eagles answered with a 12-0 scoring run to take their biggest lead of the game, 27-16. The Penguins managed to even the scoreboard at the 2:19 and 1:54 marks late in the second half, but were never able to overtake NU.
Shemar Rathan-Mayes scored a team-high 12 points, going 3-of-7 from the floor and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe. Michael Akuchie led all rebounders with 10, adding eight points of his own. Dwayne Cohill scored seven and Thomas and Tevin Olison finished with six for YSU. The Penguins finish 11-of-12 at the free throw line.
Hammond scored a game-high 19 points, and Shaun Doss Jr. added 10 for the Purple Eagles.
YSU got off to a slow start and was never able to recover. The Penguins' went scoreless for the first 6:39 of the first half, with their first points coming off a pair of free throws by Rathan-Mayes at the 13:21 mark. After starting 0-of-7 from the floor, Dwayne Cohill knocked down a three-pointer 7:24 into the first half for the Penguins first made-basket of the contest.
Minutes later, Thomas logged his first points of the night on a put-back basket to even the score at 11 apiece. On the ensuing Niagara possession, the Purple Eagles retook the lead with a trio of shots at the foul line, 18-16.
The Penguins shot 7-of-28 in the opening 30 minutes, going just 1-of-10 from three. Not much better, the Purple Eagles were 9-of-26 from the field, taking a 27-20 lead heading into the halftime locker room.
In a competitive second half, the Penguins shot 12-of-27 from the floor in the final 30 minutes of play. YSU buried a trio of threes, two from Rathan-Mayes and one from Daniel Ogoro.
YSU found itself within a single possession on eight separate occasions, but could never capitalize.
YSU outscored Niagara 13-4 on second-chance points, winning the rebound battle 38-30. The Penguins were 19-57 (33.3 percent) from the field, overall. Niagara shot 39.2 percent from the field, bucketing 20-51 attempts, including 5-18 from three-point range.
The Penguins are back in action on Thursday, Dec. 2, as they open up Horizon League play at Milwaukee. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.
