The Youngstown State men's basketball team made a charge in the second half, but Purdue Fort Wayne rallied down the stretch to beat the Penguins 76-71 on Saturday afternoon at Beeghly Center.

The Penguins dropped to 10-5 overall and 2-2 in Horizon League play, while the Mastodons improved to 10-5 and 2-2.

Brandon Rush scored a game-high 26 points for the Penguins, Dwayne Cohill scored 19, and Malek Green contributed 12. Adrian Nelson added game highs of 15 rebounds and three steals.

Damian Chong Qui scored 24 points for Purdue Fort Wayne, which hit eight 3-pointers in the first half and three big triples in a stretch of 1:11 in the second half as the Mastodons rallied.

Purdue Fort Wayne led 38-30 at halftime, and it led 53-48 with just under 11 minutes remaining. That's when the Penguins scored 13 straight points to take a 61-53 advantage with 8:30 left. Cohill started the burst with a bucket at the 10:19 mark, and Rush tied the contest at 53 with a 3-pointer that gave him 20 points.

Rush then scored in transition to give the Penguins their first lead of the second half, and Green and John Lovelace Jr. followed with three-point plays as YSU scored 13 points in 1:49 to take a 61-53 lead with 8:30 on the clock.

Chong Qui hit a 3 for the Mastodons on their possession after Lovelace Jr. finished his three-point play, and Bobby Planutis and Anthony Roberts hit 3s on their next two trips down the floor to put Purdue Fort Wayne back ahead 62-61. Chong Qui then converted a turnover into two free throws to push the margin to 64-61 with 6:41 left.

Rush's layup with 4:34 remaining ended YSU's scoring drought of nearly four minutes and made the score 64-63, but that's as close as the Penguins would get. Cohill hit a jumper with 1:58 on the clock to keep YSU within a possession at 70-67, and the 'Dons scored the next four points.

Youngstown State's last lead in the first half was at 9-8 on a Cohill 3-pointer at the 13:59 mark, and Purdue Fort Wayne followed with a 9-2 run to take a 17-11 lead. The Mastodons also went on an 11-3 run in the half to push its lead to 38-28 before the Penguins scored in the final seconds to make it 38-30 at the half.

Purdue Fort Wayne shot 65.2% in the first half, and it finished at 53.6% as it made 30-of-56 from the field. The Mastodons were 12-for-25 on their 3-point attempts. YSU shot 38.8%, and it converted 15 offensive rebounds into 12 second-chance points. YSU was 6-for-20 from beyond the arc and 13-for-16 from the free-throw line.

Youngstown State will continue its four-game homestand on Thursday as it hosts Robert Morris at 7 p.m.