The Youngstown State men's basketball team built a 51-22 halftime lead and made 10 3-pointers in the second half to beat Westminster College 117-65 on Thursday evening at Beeghly Center.
Bryce McBride recorded the second triple-double in school history to highlight YSU's individual efforts. He scored 11 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out 15 assists to join Naz Bohannon as the only two players to ever record a triple-double. Bohannon's came in overtime in the Horizon League Quarterfinals in 2021. McBride's 15 assists tied for the fifth most ever by a Penguin, and they were the most since Joe Votino had 16 against Buffalo on Feb. 14, 1979. McBride's 10th rebound came on Westminster's final miss of the night.
The Penguins went 16-for-39 from beyond the arc, and the 16 makes tied for the second-most in a game in program history. The 117 points tied for the seventh-most in school history, and it was the highest total since YSU set the current mark with 134 against Franciscan in 2017.
John Lovelace Jr. scored a game-high 19 points and went 8-for-9 from the field, and Brandon Rush scored 14 of his 17 points in the first half. Chris Shelton made five 3s, including four in the final four minutes and finished with 15 points, and three other Penguins also finished in double figures. In addition to McBride's points, Josh Irwin and William Dunn each had 10. Six Penguins scored in double figures, 12 found the scoring column, and seven made at least one 3-pointer.
Andrew Clark led Westminster with 12 points, and Jaxon Hendershott scored 11 in 12 minutes. The Titans made 11 3-pointers in the game.
YSU scored the first seven points of the contest, and the margin was 15-9 when Peyton Mele hit Westminster's third 3-pointer at the 13:45 mark of the opening half. That's when Youngstown State went on its first big run of the first half to start to pull away. McBride answered Mele's 3 with a quick jumper, and Dwayne Cohill followed a Westminster turnover with a 3-pointer 20 seconds later to put the Penguins ahead 20-9. YSU led by double digits for all but 32 seconds the rest of the night. Another 3-pointer, this one by Shemar Rathan-Mayes, capped a 12-2 Penguins run that put them ahead 27-11 with 10:24 on the clock.
YSU's second big run started with a 3-pointer by Rush that made the score 39-19 with 7:01 remaining, and Lovelace Jr. capped a 15-point spurt with a thunderous one-handed dunk with 26 seconds left that extended the mark to 51-19. Clark hit a 3 on Westminster's final possession of the half to end an eight-minute scoring drought.
Westminster committed 12 turnovers in the first half, and Youngstown State converted those into 25 points.
Youngstown State's margin grew to 40 for the first time when Josh Irwin scored five points in a 25-second span to make the score 77-36. He started a 14-0 run that gave the Penguins an 82-36 advantage with 9:43 left.
Chris Shelton's 3-pointer at the 3:25 mark pushed the Penguins over the 100-point barrier and gave them a 101-53 lead, and the margin hit 50 on a Jacori Owens layup with 3:01 left. The largest lead was 115-62 on a Lovelace 3-pointer in the final minute.
Youngstown State made 46-of-87 for 52.9% from the field, and it shot 41% from 3-point range. The Titans were 27-for-75 overall for 36%, and their 11 3-point makes came on 33 attempts. Youngstown State held a 58-35 rebounding edge, and it outscored Westminster 30-0 in transition.
YSU will go for its third straight victory on Sunday as it hosts Ohio at 2 p.m.
