Penguins win 4th straight game
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YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State junior Dwayne Cohill's recent performances have come as no surprise to head coach Jarrod Calhoun.
Calhoun has known Cohill since he was in the sixth grade. When they were growing up, Cohill was friends with Calhoun's son, Jordan, and the pair would hang out and spend the night at Calhoun's house on occasion.
After Cohill transferred to YSU from Dayton at the end of the 2020-2021 season, Calhoun knew it was just a matter of time before Cohill would show what he was capable of, even despite sitting out his last season at Dayton with a knee injury.
Cohill has come into his own as of late for the Penguins, and has been a key component to their now-four game winning streak.
After averaging 6.3 points per game in the first six games of the season, Cohill has averaged 17.6 points over the last three games -- including 18 Saturday afternoon to lead YSU to a dominant 71-43 win over a struggling Canisius squad.
"I knew when we got him that he could be really good," Calhoun said. "I think he's just playing his game. We let our guards play, we let our guards shoot the ball and we let our guards make plays off the bounce...I really feel like our group is starting to understand their roles."
Calhoun was disappointed with the team's defensive performance after giving up 77 on Wednesday to Central Michigan but the Penguins responded by holding the Golden Griffins to 23.8 percent shooting and their lowest scoring output of the season. Prior to Saturday, Canisius' lowest point total was 60.
"I told (the team) in the locker room, I thought it was by far the best defensive performance I've seen in my five years here at Youngstown and it ranks up there in my 10 years as a head coach," Calhoun said. "I think we got back to who we want to be. We talked Thursday and Friday about individual defense, which starts with keeping the ball in front of you, having active hands and then team defense."
Canisius started 0-for-12 from the floor, and were just 5-for-32 in the first half. Malek Green led all scorers with 19 for the Golden Griffins and was Canisius' only scorer in double figures.
Senior Michael Akuchie carried YSU's offense in the first half with all 12 of his points, while Cohill took over in the second half with 12 of his 18 -- at one point scoring seven straight points for YSU in the second half.
Junior Owen Long had 11 for the Penguins, while junior Chris Shelton had eight and freshman Luke Chicone had six.
The Penguins shot 50.9 percent from the field, including three different players scoring in double figures and 11 different players recording points on the stat sheet.
"We've really been stressing on getting the ball from side-to-side and getting a lot of touches per possession," Chicone said. "Our main focus this week was either to score quick or score towards the end of the shot clock. (Saturday) I just felt like we got the best shots possible on most possessions."
But, even with the efficient shooting performance, Calhoun said he felt like the Penguins left points on the board, particularly in the first half.
"We missed some threes, we missed some transition opportunities," Calhoun said, "but you have to find ways to win in different ways. Those are the teams that I think are special. You can win good, you can win ugly -- this team's figured it out. We're starting to understand you win with your defense. If that continues, this team's going to be really good."