Box Score
The Youngstown State men's basketball team completed its regular-season sweep of Green Bay, 63-50, on Thursday evening at the Beeghly Center.
With the victory, the Penguins improve to 11-10 overall with a record of 5-6 in the Horizon League, while the Phoenix fall to 4-15 with a conference record of 3-7.
Dwayne Cohill finished with a game-high 18 points and tied for a team-high two three pointers made. Three other Penguins reached double figures, including Michael Akuchie who finished the night with 13 points, Will Dunn had 11, and Shemar Rathan-Mayes finished with 10. Dunn posted a team-high eight rebounds.
Putting together a dominant performance, the Penguins were fast out the gate, holding the lead for 39 minutes of play. Off the tip, the Penguins wasted little time scoring as Rathan-Mayes took the ball straight to the rim on a driving layup to tally the first points of the game for either team just 22 seconds into the contest.
At the 12:05 mark of the half, Green Bay opened the contest shooting just 2-of-10 from the field and 0-of-2 from long range. During the span, the Penguins were able to grow a 15-6 advantage, shooting at a 54 percent (6-of-11) clip.
A nifty floater in the lane by Jacori Owens followed by a Rathan-Mayes three-ball from Owen Long on back-to-back possessions at the 10:33 and 9:49 marks gave YSU a 14-point advantage and its biggest lead of the half, 22-8. Just over a minute later, the Phoenix, as a team, entered double figures off one-of-five first half Penguin turnovers.
Green Bay was able to pull within a single possession at the 1:36 and 32-second points, stringing together a 14-6 scoring run in the final 7:26 of the opening 20 minutes of play. The Penguins shot just 3-of-12 from the floor during the stretch.
A steal and fast-break dunk by Olison with just 1.8 seconds remaining in the half gave YSU a five-point lead heading into the halftime locker room.
Out of the break, the Penguins were quick to extend their lead back to double figures on a Will Dunn turnaround hook shot at the 17:14 mark and start the half 3-of-4 from the field and 1-of-1 from long distance prior to the first stoppage in play.
With 14:59 remaining in regulation, YSU would reach its biggest lead of the contest and take a 15-point edge off Olison's lone three-point bucket of the evening on assist from Cohill.
Following a near 11-minute stretch of play with at least a seven-point YSU advantage, the Phoenix were able to cut the YSU lead to five off a Kamari McGee fast-break score in the paint with 4:43 remaining. An Akuchie jumper on the ensuing Penguins possession sparked an 8-0 unanswered streak that took three minutes off the clock to up the score to 60-47 in favor of YSU.
Cohill's second of two made long-balls with 44 ticks remaining in the game would act as the final basket for either squad.
YSU shot 48.2 percent (27-of-56) from the field, including going 15-of-28 in the second half for an impressive 53.6 percent mark. The Penguin defense forced Green Bay to shoot just 38 percent (19-of-50) for the contest, including 2-of-10 from behind the arc. The Phoenix had two players reach double figures, both with 10 points.
The Penguins are back in action in the Beeghly Center on Saturday to wrap up the two-game home stand, taking on Milwaukee. Tipoff against the Panthers is scheduled for 2 p.m.
