Box Score
Milwaukee, Wis. - The Youngstown State men's basketball team had four players score in double figures to knock off Milwaukee 70-68 on Thursday night at the UWM Panther Arena in the Horizon League opener for both schools.
Tevin Olison had a team-high 18 points while Owen Long had a career-high 17 points and Shemar Rathan-Mayes and Michael Akuchie each added 10 points in the victory. Long scored all 17 of his points in the second half and drilled a big 3-pointer in the two minutes that gave the Penguins a 67-66 lead and they never trailed again.
With the win, YSU improves to 3-3 overall and 1-0 in Horizon League play while the Panthers fall to 1-6 and 0-1.
The Penguins trailed by one at halftime, 29-28, and Milwaukee opened the second half by scoring the first 10 points. Down 11, Long drained his first basket of the night, a 3-pointer, at 16:21 to stop the MKE push. Daniel Ogoro made two free throws and Long answered with another bucket to pull YSU within 39-35 then Luke Chicone scored on a fast-break layup following a steal to make it a two-point game.
The Penguins were finally able to draw even at 51-all with just over eight minutes remaining when Olison made a jumper. Just over 30 seconds later, Olison had a steal and a layup to give the Guins their first lead since the first half with 7:35 left. YSU's biggest leads of the second were 60-56 and 62-58 and it held a 64-61 cushion with 2:40 left following two Long free throws.
Milwaukee tied the game at 64 on a 3-pointer by Tafari Simms with 2:24 left. A pair of Joey St. Pierre free throws put the Guins behind 66-64 with just 2:02 left. On YSU's next possession, Long found some space and drained a 3-pointer that put the Guins on top 67-66 with 1:46 remaining. Neither team was able to score for the next 90 seconds before Ogoro knocked down two free throws with 13 seconds left. The Panthers cut the deficit to one when Donovan Newby made two free throws with 11 seconds left.
Long made the front end of a one-and-one with 7.2 seconds remaining, but the second glanced off the rim and went out of bounds off the Penguins. Milwaukee had one last charge up the court, but Newby's game-tying attempt from 13 feet clanged off the iron and the Penguins claimed the win.
In his first Horizon League game, Long had a huge night for the Guins. He scored 17 points, grabbed four rebounds, had a game-high four steals and a pair of assists.
For the contest, YSU made just 20-of-64 field goal attempts (31.3 percent), but was outstanding from the free-throw line making 23-of-27 shots (85.2 percent). Milwaukee shot 48.1 percent making 26-of-54 attempts, but made just 10 free throws. Thanks to Long, the Guins had 29 bench points to Milwaukee's 13. DeAndre Gholston scored a game-high 24 points for the Panthers.
The Penguins close out a the Wisconsin portion of the schedule with a Saturday visit to Green Bay. Tipoff for the contest against the Phoenix is set for 7 p.m. Eastern time at the Kress Center.
