Box Score
The Youngstown State men's basketball team fell in its Horizon League home opener to Purdue Fort Wayne on Friday inside the Beeghly Center, 71-61.
With the victory, the Mastadons improve to 6-7 overall and 2-3 in league play, while the Penguins fall to 9-6 and own a conference record of 3-2.
Luke Chicone highlighted the YSU scoring fleet, tallying a career-high 13 points scored on 5-of-7 shooting. Chicone, who came off the bench, also added three rebounds and an assist to his nightly total.
Tevin Olison was the Penguins' second-leading scorer, finishing with 11 points and adding five rebounds on 30:58 minutes of play. Dwayne Cohill and Michael Akuchie recorded ten points apiece, acting as the final two Penguins to reach double figures.
PFW entered the halftime locker room with a three-point lead following a made Akuchie jumper with 29 seconds to play in the first half.
Out of the break, the Mastadons held the advantage until an Akuchie rebound and a put-back, at the 6:29 mark, gave the Penguins the one-point lead, 51-50. On the ensuing possession, PFW would answer with a three pointer in the corner to retake a lead it wouldn't give away. The Penguins would pull the score back to 53-all with 6:03 remaining, but a five-point Mastadons scoring run swung the momentum in their favor.
With 2:05 left in the half, Chicone connected on the back end of a pair of free throws to bring the PFW lead to four just before another 7-0 uncontested run sealed the 'Dons second league victory of their season.
YSU would pull back to within a single possession on six separate occasions throughout final six minutes of regulation, but failed to capitalize.
PFW outscored YSU 30-26 in the paint, while forcing 14 Penguins' turnovers. The Penguins shot just 6-of-12 from the charity stripe (50 percent) and were 25-of-59 (42.4 percent) from the field, overall. The Mastodons had four players who reached double figures and were led by Godfrey, who led all scorers, with 18. Purdue Fort Wayne shot 39.1 percent from the field, bucketing 25-of-64 attempts, including going 7-of-21 from three-point range.
YSU concludes its weekend home stand in the Beeghly Center on Sunday, hosting Cleveland State. The afternoon tipoff is set for 2 p.m.
