The Youngstown State men's basketball team built a 17-point halftime lead and held off a second-half surge from Northern Kentucky to earn a 72-61 victory in Horizon League play on Wednesday night at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center.
The Penguins owned a 42-25 halftime lead that was cut down to eight on three different occasions in the final 20 minutes, but YSU was able to secure its ninth victory in the last 10 games. The Penguins improved to 11-6 overall and 6-1 in Horizon League action while the Norse dropped to 9-8 overall and 4-2 in league play.
Juwan Maxey led YSU as one of four players in double figures with a career-high 19 points while matching his career-best with five 3-pointers. Ty Harper poured in 14 points and connected on four of six 3-point attempts while David Wilkerson scored a career-high 12 points and went 2-for-3 from deep. Harper made his first four field-goal attempts and first three attempts from long distance while matching his season high in triples. Gabe Dynes impacted the game in multiple ways once again with 11 points on five-for-six shooting, a career-high 15 rebounds and four blocked shots.
Youngstown State shot 44.6 percent overall and 46.4 percent from 3-point range while converting all nine of its free-throw attempts. The Penguins were one off their season high with 13 triples while holding a plus-10 advantage on the glass. YSU limited NKU to 38.3 percent shooting overall and 28.6 percent from deep. The Guins also outscored the Norse 28-9 in bench scoring.
NKU started the second half on an 11-3 spurt that included a 9-0 run to cut YSU's advantage to 45-36 with 14:27 remaining. The Penguins scored the next four points to make the score 49-36 before the Norse scored five straight of their own to make it a single-digit difference at 49-41 with 11:50 left in the final session. Norse started 7-for-12 from the field in the second half while the Guins made just two of their first 11 attempts.
After NKU pulled within eight points, Youngstown State responded with a 9-2 run of its own to lead 58-43 with under 10 minutes left to play. Harper drilled his fourth 3-pointer of the night to push YSU's lead to 52-41, and Siem Uijtendaal's first triple of the game made it 55-43 with 10:50 remaining. Wilkerson added a 3-pointer after an offensive rebound from Dynes to create a 58-43 edge and force an NKU timeout with 9:42 remaining.
The Norse came out of the timeout on a 5-0 run to get within 58-48 before Maxey answered with his fourth 3-pointer of the evening. NKU scored the next four points before another Maxey triple increased YSU's lead to 64-52 with 6:10 on the second-half clock.
Northern Kentucky drew within eight once again at 64-56 with 5:17 to go, and the differential remained eight at 66-58 with 3:41 remaining. However, the Norse would get no closer as the Penguins allowed just three points over the final 3:41 on their way to improving to 5-1 this season on their home court.
Youngstown State shot 50 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes of play while limiting Northern Kentucky to under 35 percent. NKU made each of its first five field goals before only connecting on three of its next 18 attempts from the floor. The Penguins also shot almost 44 percent from 3-point range, connecting on seven of 16 attempts from distance in the first half. Harper and Maxey each scored 11 points and made three 3-pointers during the opening period while Dynes recorded nine points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots.
The Norse started the scoring with a 3-pointer from Randall Pettus II on the opening possession of the game. NKU added a driving layup from Sam Vinson to go ahead 5-0 before Harper scored YSU's first points on a triple at the 18:34 mark of the first half. Harper's triple started a stretch where the Guins connected on five straight field goals and three consecutive 3-pointers. Harper followed his long-range jumper with a transition dunk to even the score at 5-5. Harper's second connection from beyond the arc gave YSU a 13-10 advantage with 16:43 remaining in the opening half. NKU evened the score on a 3-pointer from Trey Robinson before a tip-in layup from Dynes gave the Penguins a 15-13 edge at the 15:09 mark.
Harper's third 3-pointer of the first half pushed YSU's lead to 18-13. Dynes hammered home a dunk in the lane to increase the lead back to five at 20-15 before Uijtendaal beat the shot clock with a fadeaway jumper to give the Guins a 22-15 lead with 11:57 left in the first half. After Northern Kentucky shaved its deficit to 22-17, YSU proceed to put together a 10-0 scoring run to take a double-digit lead. Maxey's second 3-pointer of the opening period pushed the YSU advantage to 25-17 before another two-hand slam from Dynes made it a 27-17 lead and forced an NKU timeout with 9:29 remaining.
Youngstown State's lead swelled to 30-17 on another triple from Maxey, and Jason Nelson added a driving layup to produce a 32-17 edge with 8:00 on the first-half clock. Wilkerson connected from deep and hit a floating jump shot for five straight points to give the home squad a 37-19 lead with 3:40 remaining in the opening half of action. With the Penguins in front 39-22, Dynes provided another highlight-reel, tip-in dunk off a missed jumper to give his team its largest lead of the night at 42-22. Robinson beat the first-half buzzer with a 3-pointer for NKU to leave YSU ahead 42-25 at the intermission.
Youngstown State will host Northeast Ohio rival Cleveland State on Saturday at 2 p.m. in another Horizon League showdown. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and 570 WKBN.
