Box Score
Michael Akuchie scored a career-high 33 points, and the Youngstown State men's basketball team led by double digits for the final 33 minutes in an 86-72 victory over Milwaukee on Saturday afternoon at the Beeghly Center.
Akuchie made six 3-pointers, and the Penguins made a season-best 13 as a team as they completed a weekend sweep of the Horizon League's Wisconsin teams.
Youngstown State improved to 12-10 overall and 6-6 in conference play, and Milwaukee dropped to 7-15 overall and 5-8 against the league.
Akuchie had 22 points in the first half as Youngstown State built a 41-21 lead. He finished 10-of-17 from the field, 6-for-10 from 3-point range and 7-for-8 from the free-throw line. Three other Penguins reached double figures as William Dunn scored 19, Dwayne Cohill had 16, and Myles Hunter added 12 off the bench.
Jordan Lahon scored 20 points and went 4-for-5 from 3-point range to lead the Panthers.
The Penguins never trailed in the game, and they took their first double-digit lead at 20-8 on a 3-pointer by Akuchie at the 13:20 mark of the first half. YSU was 7-for-9 overall from the field and 4-for-4 from beyond the arc at that point.
The lead reached 20 for the first time at 34-13 on another Akuchie triple with 4:34 left in the opening half, and the largest gap of the first half was at 39-17 and 41-19.
The Penguins' lead surged to 26 three different times in the second half, the first of which came on Akuchie's fifth 3-pointer of the day. His triple made the score 49-23 with 17:55 on the clock, and YSU led by 26 again at 61-35 and 64-38.
After Myles' Hunter's trey made the score 64-38 with 10:50 remaining, Milwaukee went on a 24-8 run over the next 7:20 to cut the deficit down to 10 at 72-62 with 3:29 on the clock. That's as close as the Panthers would get, and Akuchie's sixth and final trey put YSU ahead 78-64 with 1:47 on the clock.
Youngstown State shot 46.2%, making 24 of its 52 attempts. Milwaukee actually made two more field goals, but YSU made six more 3-pointers and had a 25-13 edge at the free-throw line.
The Penguins will play two road games next week, beginning with a contest at IUPUI on Thursday. The game will tip at 7 p.m. in Indianapolis, Ind., and it will be broadcast live on 570 WKBN and ESPN+.
