Nov. 18, 2009
Second-Half Run Leads Kent State Past Men's Basketball, 70-61
Youngstown -- Youngstown State went eight-and-half minutes without a field goal in the second half, and Kent State turned a 40-40 game into an insurmountable 13-point lead in a 70-61 win on Wednesday at the Beeghly Center.
YSU had tied the score for the third time in the second half when it missed eight consecutive shots from the floor as Kent State built a 53-40 lead with 7:40 remaining. The Penguins steadily worked the margin down to six with just over a minute left, but Kent State hit seven of its final eight free throws to seal the victory.
Junior Vytas Sulskis led the Penguins with 15 points in a 70-61 loss to Kent
State on Wednesday evening.
Kent State improves to 3-1 with the victory while YSU dropped to 1-2.
A Sulskis 3-pointer on YSU's second possession of the second half put the Penguins with three at 30-27, and the Golden Flashes pushed the lead to five three different times in the first four minutes of the period. After a two free throws by Rodriquez Sherman made the score 36-31, YSU scored five straight points to tie the contest at 36 on a Sulskis lay-up with 14:31 remaining on the clock.
The score was tied twice more, at 38 and 40, before the dry spell hit. Once Mays' jumper at the 11:15 mark made the score 40-40, YSU went without a field goal until Mays hit a driving bucket off the glass with 2:51 left.
Sherman hit a 3-pointer that sparked a 13-point run over the next 3:25 that put the Golden Flashes up 53-40 at the 7:40 mark. Three Sulskis free throws got the Penguins within 10 with just under six minutes remaining, and YSU did not get within six until there was 1:03 remaining.
Kent State scored the game's first eight points and led 17-10 with 10:02 remaining on a Mike McKee free throw. The Penguins answered by scoring eight straight points over the next two minutes as a DeAndre Mays break-away lay-up gave the Guins an 18-17 lead, their first of the game.
Kent State answered with an 11-2 run to go up 28-20 with 3:46 left on two of Evans' 10 points in the half. A Kelvin Bright free throw at the 1:25 mark capped a mini 4-0 run for YSU and Anthony Simpson hit lay-up with just over a minute left to push the lead to 30-24 at the break.
Youngstown State will play at Saint Peter's (N.J.) on Saturday at 2 p.m.