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DETROIT -- Youngs-town State twice rallied from deficits of 15 points or more in the second half, but could not sustain the comebacks and, in the end, could not continue its Cinderella role in the Horizon League men's basketball tournament at Joe Louis Arena.
Northern Kentucky, who as the No. 4 seed is the highest remaining seed in the tournament, defeated the Penguins, 84-74, Monday night to advance to the league championship game tonight against Milwaukee. YSU finishes the season with a record of 13-20.
Coming off an upset Saturday of top-seeded Oakland, the Penguins allowed a 24-19 first-half deficit to balloon to 42-27 by halftime. But YSU scored the first nine points of the second half to get within 42-36.
NKU withstood that run and ended up taking a 70-54 lead with just under seven minutes remaining. That's when the Penguins made one final push by making four 3-pointers -- three by Matt Donlan -- during a 20-9 run over a four-minute stretch to get within 79-74 with 2:21 left.
A Northern Kentucky offensive rebound led to a 3-pointer, and the Penguins did not score for the rest of the game.
Cameron Morse led Youngstown State with 28 points and became the first Penguins player in its Division I-era to score more than 700 points in a season (711). Francisco Santiago had 15 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, and Donlan had 14 points.
YSU shot 60 percent in the second half despite missing its final four shots and finished making 44.6 percent for the game. YSU was 8-for-18 from 3-point range.
Drew McDonald scored 26 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Norse (23-10). LaVone Holland scored 20 and made all three of his 3-pointers.
The Norse shot 31 for 62 including 13 for 27 from 3-point distance. Northern Kentucky now has won five straight and nine of its last 10. Mason Faulkner added 10 points.
Milwaukee 74, Illinois-Chicago 68: DETROIT -- Brock Stull had 17 points, including three 3-pointers, and 10 rebounds, Brett Prahl scored 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting and last-seed Milwaukee beat Illinois-Chicago to advance to the Horizon League Tournament final.
Cody Wichmann also had 15 points and Jeremy Johnson scored 10 for Milwaukee (11-23), which has won three in a row after losing nine in a row to close the regular season. The Panthers won just four conference games in the regular season.