The Youngstown State men's basketball team outscored Northern Kentucky 44-21 in the second half in route to a dominant 82-52 victory in front of more than 6,000 fans at Beeghly Center on Sunday afternoon.
The Penguins led 38-31 at halftime after trailing by as many as eight points during the opening 20 minutes of action. YSU's defense shined in the second half as the Guins held Northern Kentucky to 21 points on 6-for-25 shooting (24 percent) from the field over the final 20 minutes. Conversely, Youngstown State shot nearly 52 percent offensively in the second half, going 16-31 overall on its way to winning its third straight game and evening the regular season series with NKU.
Youngstown State improves to 16-6 overall and 8-3 in Horizon League play while Northern Kentucky falls to 11-11 overall and 6-5 in league action.
Ziggy Reid paced five Penguins in double figures with 18 points while DJ Burns recorded his 12th double-double of the campaign with 11 points and 11 rebounds. EJ Farmer posted 12 points while Brandon Rush and Brett Thompson recorded 10 points apiece. YSU's defense forced 20 turnovers and converted them into 23 points while outscoring NKU 34-14 in the paint.
The Penguins shot just under 46 percent overall from the field for the contest despite going just 7-for-28 from beyond the arc. NKU made a total of 15 field goals as it went 15-for-52 from the floor for 28.8 percent. The Norse connected on eight of their 22 three-point attempts with five of those makes coming in the first half. Trey Robinson led Northern Kentucky with 13 points and seven rebounds.
The Penguins scored the first 10 points of the second half to grab control of the contest at 48-31, and they would not look back. YSU flexed its defensive muscles by holding the Norse scoreless for first five-plus minutes of the second half as their first points came at the 14:27 mark on a hook shot from Robinson.
After leading by as many as nine in the first half, YSU's lead swelled back to nine at 40-31 in the first minute of the second half on a driving layup by Thompson. Reid followed with his second triple of the afternoon to push the Penguins' edge to double digits for the first time at 43-31. Two made free throws by Rush increased the advantage to 45-31, and a layup by Imanuel Zorgvol gave YSU a 47-31 lead with 15:43 to play.
Youngstown State's lead reached 48-31 on a free throw from by Farmer before Northern Kentucky scored five straight points to get back within 48-36. YSU countered by scoring the next eight points to build its first 20-point lead at 56-36. After a bucket by the Norse, Bryson Langdon threw a high-arcing pass for a thunderous alley-oop dunk by Zorgvol and Burns followed with a tip-in layup to give the Guins a commanding 60-38 lead with 7:10 remaining in the contest. YSU's lead reached 30 for the first time at 72-42 on a Burns free throw with 3:21 left to play, and the final margin would remain the same.
YSU took its first lead of the day at 4-3 after a steal and an ensuing dunk by Rush just under two minutes into the game. The Norse then went on a 9-2 run to build a 12-6 advantage at the 15:42 mark of the first half. The Guins scored the next four points to pull within two at 12-10 before the Norse took a seven-point edge at 17-10 after a pair of free throws by Robinson with 13:21 to play in the first half. NKU connected on five of its first six three-point attempts while YSU missed its first seven attempts from long distance.
The Norse lead grew to eight for the first time at the 11:53 mark of the first half when Michael Bradley knocked down a triple from the left wing to give NKU a 20-12 advantage. Northern Kentucky led by eight again at 22-14 before Youngstown State rattled off 10 straight points to regain the lead. Rush hit YSU's first three-pointer of the contest at the 10:06 mark of the first half to bring his team back within five at 22-17. Two free throws by Burns made the score 22-19 before Reid's straight-on three-pointer locked the score at 22-22 with nine minutes remaining until halftime. Farmer's steal and layup on the other end put the Guins in front 24-22 with 8:07 on the first-half clock. YSU held NKU scoreless for nearly three minutes on the defensive end while fighting its way back in front.
The Norse pulled within a point at 30-29 with just over three minutes remaining in the half before the Penguins responded with eight straight points to build their largest lead to that point at 38-29. NKU trimmed the deficit to seven at the halftime after a layup by Bradley with five seconds left in the half. Youngstown State shot 40% overall during the first 20 minutes despite going just 3-for-15 from three-point range. YSU was also successful on all 11 of its free throw attempts in the first session. The Guins limited the Norse to just nine field goals and 33.3% shooting during the first half of action despite NKU going 5-for-9 from deep.
Youngstown State will return to action on Thursday at Wright State. Tipoff at the Nutter Center is slated for 9 p.m., and the game will be nationally televised on ESPNU.
