Box Score
Senior Michael Akuchie scored a career-high 34 points on 13-of-17 shooting from the floor to lead the Youngstown State men's basketball team to its sixth straight win with an 82-69 win over Detroit Mercy on Friday night at the Beeghly Center.
The Penguins, who shot 58 percent from the field, improve to 16-10 overall and 10-6 in the Horizon League while the Titans fall to 10-12 overall and 7-5 in the league. The last time YSU won six straight games was in 2018-19.
Junior Dwayne Cohill reach double figures for the 12th straight game with 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists while senior Tevin Olison posted 15 points and seven boards.
Leading the Titans was senior Antoine Davis with 28 points on 12-of-25 shooting. The Penguins stingy defense limited the nation's leading scorer to just 1-for-9 from 3-point range. D.J. Harvey added 16 points for the Titans.
The Titans held a slim one-point advantage 10-9, through the first five minutes of the game before the Penguins used an 11-2 run to take a 20-12 lead midway through the stanza. YSU would never trail again.
A 3-pointer by Shemar Rathan-Mayes started the run and a pair of free throws by Cohill, layups by Akuchie and Rathan-Mayes and a dunk by Akuchie keyed the scoring spurt.
The Titans sliced the lead down to five, 24-19, but a jumper and 3-pointer by Akuchie gave the Penguins a 10-point lead, 29-19, at the 7:49 mark.
The Penguins built their largest lead of the half, 34-23, after another 3-pointer by Akuchie with 4:27 left.
Youngstown State entered the lockerroom with a 40-32 lead at the intermission.
After a Cohill 3-pointer pushed the YSU lead to 11 to start the second half, the Titans trimmed the lead to seven 43-36, with a pair of baskets.
The Penguins scored the next seven points on a jumper by Cohill, a 3-pointer by William Dunn and a layup by Cohill to extend the advantage to 14, 50-36, with 16:34 to go.
The Titans cut the deficit to nine, 50-41, with 15:26 left but the Penguins would twice build their lead to 15 points, 60-45, at the 9:47 mark and 69-54 after a three-point play by Olison with 4:07 to go.
The Titans would not come within 10 points the rest of the way.
Youngstown State hosts Robert Morris, Sunday, Feb. 13. Tipoff is set for noon at the Beeghly Center.
