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YSU wins in OT over Niagara

By John Vargo 4 min read

By JOHN VARGO

Tribune Chronicle

YOUNGSTOWN -- Devin Haygood made his impact in overtime.

He had two free throws and a putback in the final two minutes of Wednesday's game to lift Youngstown State past Niagara, 101-97.

The 6-foot-7 sophomore forward put the Penguins (6-6) up 99-96 on the lay-in after an offensive rebound with 1ting 50 percent from the floor.

Cameron Morse led with a game-high 27 points. Francisco Santiago had 18, while Matt Donlan added 15. The three all average double figures and are the Penguins' big three.

"We can be really dangerous on the court, with me going to the basket, creating for other guys," Morse said. "Matt Donlan is a lights-out shooter, one of the best shooters in the country. Cisco comes in the lane, he kicks out to our shooters, including me.

"We can be very dangerous when we're all on our game."

Senior center Jorden Kaufman had 16 points and 12 rebounds, including a pair of free throws with 11 seconds left in regulation to give YSU a short-lived 91-89 lead.

"I thought the unsung hero of the night was Jorden Kaufman," said YSU coach Jerry Slocum, whose team snapped a two-game losing streak. "I thought he got us two or three big offensive rebounds."

Niagara (3-8) cut through the Penguins' defense after the free throws as Kahlil Dukes, who had 20 points, scored on a drive with 2.5 seconds left in second half.

Donlan's half-court heave came up short at the buzzer.

The teams kept trading baskets to start overtime with Matt Scott's 3-point play giving the Purple Eagles a 96-95 advantage with 3:53 left in the extra session. Scott had 16 points.

Morse was fouled with 2:10 left. He has his right wrist wrapped from a sprain suffered in the Toledo game in mid-November. Morse missed a couple of games, but is in his second game back from sitting out with the wrist sprain.

The overtime foul knocked Morse to the ground. The 6-2 junior shooting guard was holding and rubbing the wrap on his right wrist most of the night. He even airballed the free throw, a rarity for the prolific scorer who averaged 23.4 points coming into Wednesday's game.

"Right when I went to the basket I fell right on it," Morse said. "I knew it was hurting. I said I was going to shoot the free throw.

"After the free throw, I still wanted to stay in the game."

Morse insisted he's good to play after the injury. He wanted to come back and help his team.

"I'm not going to sit out games and have my team suffer a little bit," he said. "I feel like I have to be there for them. They're going to be there for me."

Shane Gatling led Niagara with 24 points.

The Purple Eagles, who shot 56 percent in the first half, held a 47-42 lead. Niagara was held to 44 percent in the second 20 minutes.

"They were missing shots, but they were missing shots because of the defense," Morse said. "Really we were stopping their transition points. Early on, they were getting out in transition and getting easy buckets. We realized at halftime and made an adjustment.

"We said we had to get back in transition and make them score over us. That's what we did."

The defense was solidified by Haygood's efforts in the extra session.

"I'm not sure for a kid that's 6-8ish, that there's a guy that can guard better in our league," Slocum said. "Not necessarily on the post, but on ball screens. He can switch up. We can do some different things defensively, which we did in the overtime with him.

"Happy he was able to perform like he did in overtime."

Tuesday, YSU travels to Ohio State. Tipoff is at 7 p.m.

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