Youngstown, Ohio — DJ Burns set the program's Division I single-season rebounding record, and the Youngstown State men's basketball team pulled away in the second half to beat Detroit Mercy 69-55 on Wednesday at the Beeghly Center.
The win in their regular-season finale allowed the Penguins to improve to 22-9, and it gave them 22 victories in consecutive seasons for the first time since the 1956-57 and 1957-58 campaigns. YSU also clinched a top-four seed in the 2024 Barbasol Horizon League Men's Basketball Championship by finishing with a 14-6 conference mark, and the Penguins will host a quarterfinal game in the tournament at Beeghly Center on Thursday, March. 7. Ticket information will be announced on YSUsports.com.
Detroit Mercy dropped to 1-29 overall and 1-18 in conference play.
Burns grabbed 13 rebounds in the opening half as the Titans went 8-for-32 from the field in the first 20 minutes, and his 12th allowed him to move ahead of Jerome Sims' previous Division I record of 327 rebounds set in the 1991-92 season. Burns finished with 19 rebounds in the game to increase his season total to 335, which ranks ninth on the all-time single-season list at YSU.
Offensively, Brandon Rush caught fire in the second half and made five of his first six attempts from 3-point range. He finished with six triples in the contest and scored a team-high 18 points. EJ Farmer scored 14 points, and Burns added 10 points to collect his 21st double-double of the season.
Marcus Tankersley scored a game-high 22 points to lead Detroit Mercy, but no other Titans reached double figures.
Detroit Mercy had two prolonged cold stretches in the opening half, and the Penguins held a 33-19 advantage at the break.
Youngstown State led 9-0 after a Ziggy Reid 3-pointer at the 14:52 mark, and the Titans had four turnovers and missed their first nine shots before scoring their first points of the game. After Tankersley got Detroit Mercy on the board with 13:40 on the clock, the Titans made five of their next six attempts to climb to within 17-13 with 9:26 left.
Brett Thompson hit a 3 on YSU's next possession, and the Penguins went on to score 12 straight points as part of a 16-6 run to end the half. YSU's largest lead of the opening stanza was 29-13 on a Reid bucket at the 3:38 mark.
Burns grabbed his record-setting rebound on a Tankersley miss in the final minute, and he had another before the final horn to increase his first-half total to 13.
YSU didn't score in the second half until Thompson drove the left side for a layup at the 15:59 mark. Even with that extended dry spell, YSU only allowed Detroit Mercy to shave three points off the margin.
After Thompson's layup, Rush made three 3s in a span of 1:36 to extend the Penguins' lead to 44-26. His fourth 3 of the half pushed the margin past 20 for the first time at 49-28 with 11:52 on the clock. Rush's final 3 gave YSU its largest advantage at 64-41 with 4:13 left, and the final score was as close as the Titans got the rest of the way.
The Penguins shot 42.6% overall from the field, and they were better from beyond the arc than they were inside it. YSU was 12-for-26 on 3-point attempts for 46.2%, and Rush was 6-for-10 while Farmer was 3-for-4. Detroit Mercy shot 34.4% overall while making just five of its 24 attempts from long distance.
