YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State’s fortunes turned in an instant Wednesday.
Despite trailing by 10 near the start of the second half, the Penguins rallied all the way back to tie the game in the final seconds, but Robert Morris went coast-to-coast to score the game-winning layup before the buzzer to hand the Penguins a 72-70 defeat at Zidian Family Arena.
“We struggled to guard the ball, struggled to guard the ball screen for a long time,” head coach Ethan Faulkner said. “Fourteen assists and 12 turnovers for them, that just tells you that we weren’t disruptive enough. We didn’t guard the ball enough. We didn’t rebound the ball well enough. I thought transition offense — we were putrid — missed so many opportunities to get easy baskets, throwing the ball away or not making the right play.
“So we gotta be better. That’s the bottom line. We’re not talented enough, we’re not good enough to play in spurts. This league is too good, the teams in our league are too good. If we don’t play for 40 minutes, we give ourselves a big disadvantage in terms of trying to have success.”
The Penguins had to claw their way back in the second half, and were down by four with 1:21 to go. But YSU may not have been in that position had it not been for junior guard Juwan Maxey.
He scored 17 of his game-high 22 points in the second half to carry the offense, and at one point, he scored 12 straight points for the Penguins.
“I was just finding my rhythm, and my teammates kept getting me the ball,” Maxey said. “We were down heavy, so I know they depend on me just like I depend on them. The ball was just finding my way this time, so I made it happen for my team.”
Out of a timeout, YSU opted to go with the hot hand. Faulkner drew up a baseline out-of-bounds play for Maxey, who curled off his screen, caught the ball and drained a corner three to make it a one-point game.
“We executed it well, and he made it,” Faulkner said. “Juwan got it going late, made a few shots, made some plays off the bounce, got to the foul line and really got us back in the game. He did what he needed to do offensively.”
After RMU’s Kam Woods split a pair of free throws, YSU had the ball down by two and called a timeout with about 15 seconds left.
The Penguins elected to use Maxey as a decoy and get fifth-year guard Ty Harper downhill to attack the basket. Harper drove into contact in the lane and missed his first shot at the rim, but he followed it up, grabbed the offensive rebound and put it back to tie the game with six seconds to go.
“We gave Ty the ball and just wanted to go into a brush screen. We felt like we had a favorable matchup,” Faulkner said. “Obviously got downhill and executed that pretty good. He got in there, stayed with it and got the second-chance basket to tie the game up.”
But on the ensuing possession, RMU’s Kam Woods then took the ball baseline-to-baseline to score the game-winning layup with two seconds left. Redshirt junior guard Jason Nelson’s halfcourt heave missed the basket as the buzzer sounded.
“The guy on the other team just shoved our guy right to the ground, which led to a 5-on-4 break on the other end,” Faulkner said.
The Penguins held the early advantage to start the first half, but the Colonials were relentless on the offensive glass.
RMU was able to turn those extra rebounds into second-chance points, which gave the Colonials the edge at halftime and allowed them to build their lead into the second half.
Robert Morris finished with a 17-9 offensive rebounding advantage, which led to a 20-13 edge in second-chance points.
“Biggest key to the game was to keep them off the offensive glass,” Faulkner said. “It continues to be an Achiiles’ heel. We’re pretty good defensively when we can finish stops and that allows us to get out in transition, but we just weren’t able to do that tonight.”
To go with Maxey’s 22 points, Harper also finished in double figures for the Penguins with 15 points. Nelson and Gabe Dynes each also had eight points for YSU.
Woods led the Colonials with 17 points, and was one of four RMU players in double figures, along with Amarion Dickerson (15), Alvaro Folgueiras (15) and D.J. Smith (13). Dickerson carried the offense in the first half for the Colonials, while Woods picked things up in the second half.
The Penguins now have a quick turnaround with a game against Penn State-Shenango on Friday morning at 11 a.m., which will be the second contest of their four-game homestand.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Robert Morris’ game-winning layup in final seconds hands YSU a crushing 72-70 defeat )
Also on site :
- Naukri exposed recruiter email addresses, researcher says
- Beloved Country Music Star Pays Tribute To Classic Judy Garland Song With 'Somewhere Over Laredo'
- Attacks by over 100 Ukrainian drones repelled overnight – MOD