Box Score
The Youngstown State men's basketball team dropped a hard-fought overtime thriller to Cleveland State on Sunday in the Beeghly Center, 86-80.
With the victory, the Vikings improve to 10-3 overall and remain an unbeaten 6-0 in league play, while the Penguins fall to 9-7 with a conference record of 3-3.
Shemar Rathan-Mayes scored a career-high and team-leading 21 points for the Penguins, going 7-of-9 from the floor and 3-of-4 from behind the arc. Rathan-Mayes was also a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line. Dwayne Cohill finished with 19 points and Tevin Olison added 15.
The Penguins began the contest starting 0-of-9 from the floor, including 0-of-4 from long range before a Chris Shelton connected on a three-point bucket at the 14:11 mark on assist from Daniel Ogoro. On the ensuing Penguins possession, Ogoro muscled the through the CSU defense and scored on a contested layup. The scoreless streak included four costly turnovers that lead to a pair of points for CSU.
YSU endured a near five-minute streak without a bucket that began at the 13:03 mark and was ended with a Cohill fast-break layup with 9:18 remaining to play in the half. Prior to Cohill's bucket, both teams combined to shoot 9-of-34 and 1-of-14 from long distance.
While the Penguins had trouble finding the basket from long range early, a Cohill three-pointer at the 8:52 mark began a stretch of three made treys on four possessions for YSU. Rathan-Mayes and Miles Hunter followed at the 7:21 and 6:45 marks, each recording their first points of the contest with the made baskets.
After Hunter's trey at the 6:45 point, YSU outscored Cleveland state 14-11 to take a 35-27 lead into the halftime locker room. The Penguins finished the half shooting at a 50 percent clip, going 4-of-8 from the floor.
Out of the break, Cleveland State began the half on a 12-8 run prior to the first stoppage of play at the 15:44 mark. Out of the game for much of the first half in foul trouble, the Vikings' Tre Gomillion stringed together a pair of made baskets. However, the Penguins used a pair of threes on back-to-back possessions by Rathan-Mayes and Ogoro at the 14:23 and 13:50 marks of the half to swing momentum back in their favor.
At the 7:38 mark, the Vikings were able to take their first lead since the 9:18 point of the first half when they held a 14-12 advantage on a rebound and put-back from Hodge. The Penguins would regain the lead on their next possession following Will Dunn's first points of the game, upping the score to 63-62.
With a one-point lead, Cohill would step to the charity stripe with 27 ticks on the clock and bucket two free throws the Penguins. During Cleveland State's next possession and offensive rebound and kick-out pass to Hodge for three knotted the scoreboard at 75 apiece.
With five seconds left in regulation, a designed inbound pass to Cohill from Olison gave Cohill a look at the basket to clinch the victory for the Penguins, but the shot rimmed out.
The Vikings would go onto outscore the Penguins 11-5 during the five-minute overtime period to seal the win, 86-80, and tally their league-leading sixth conference win of the 2021-22 season.
For the game, YSU shot 41.7 percent (25-of-60) from the field and made 10 3-pointers. YSU was also 20-of-23 from the free-throw line, for an 87 percent clip. CSU had three players score in double figures led by D'Moi Hodge's game-high 31 points. Cleveland State shot 43.7 percent (31-of-71) for the contest.
YSU is back in action next weekend at the Beeghly Center for another two-game conference home stand, taking on Northern Kentucky and Wright State. Thursday's tipoff against the Norse is slated for 7 p.m.
