Youngstown State rallies from slow start to earn 79-42 victory
Trending
YOUNGSTOWN -- It certainly wasn't the start Youngstown State was looking for.
In fact, just two minutes into Wednesday's contest with NAIA-level Mount Vernon Nazarene, Penguins coach John Barnes subbed his entire starting five out to send a message.
Though it still took a while even after that, YSU shook off its sloppy start en route to a 79-42 demolition of the visiting Cougars. It was Youngstown State's seventh consecutive victory.
"It was a little bit of a tough start," Barnes said. "I thought (MVNU) did a really nice job. They came out in attack mode -- making shots, getting to the rim and getting fouls on us. I thought they did a really good job, and I thought we came out a little flat -- maybe more focused on Christmas break than this game. So it was a little disappointing."
Through the first quarter, Mount Vernon Nazarene (6-8) was able to hang around, even after YSU (8-3) took an early 8-0 lead. After the Penguins jumped out to that advantage, the Cougars rallied back to tie the game at 8-8 before YSU took a 15-12 advantage into the second quarter.
Then the Penguins ramped up the pressure by jumping into a full-court press. The effect was two-fold -- YSU was able to speed the Cougars up and force turnovers, and the Penguins started playing with more energy at both ends of the court.
YSU forced 15 turnovers by halftime to take a 38-21 lead into the break, courtesy of a 23-9 scoring advantage in the second quarter. In all, MVNU coughed up 24 giveaways, off of which the Penguins scored 27 points.
"If you're pressing and denying, you really have to turn up your energy level and focus," Barnes said. "We did turn them over quite a bit, but I thought they got some easy baskets off of it, too, which is a credit to them."
From there, the Penguins were firmly in control, outpacing MVNU 41-21 in the second half and cruising to the victory. Megan Callahan led all scorers with 19 points on a 7-for-11 performance from the field, while Lilly Ritz chipped in 15 points and nine rebounds. Emily Saunders added 11 points and three boards, and Dena Jarrells scored seven points, dished five assists and grabbed four rebounds.
The third quarter was especially dominant defensively. Holding Mount Vernon Nazarene scoreless for the final 5:26, the Penguins used a 14-0 run to take a 60-31 lead into the final period.
"There was a lot of energy (in the second half), and then we're all tipping the ball and talking to each other. I really feel like that brought a lot of energy, and then it transferred to the offense," Callahan said.
Barnes added, "I thought our defense stiffened up, and it was able to get us over the hump."
YSU also dominated the post, holding a 50-10 advantage in points in the paint and a 14-4 advantage on second-chance points. The Penguins won the rebounding battle, 43-32.
If there were a concern from the win, however, it was the 3-point shooting, something that has at times been an issue for the Penguins. YSU shot 6-of-25 from deep, though Barnes didn't express any sense of unease.
"I think it was just kind of everything combined (an early tip-off, Elementary School Day, the last game before Christmas break), and us speeding up and pressing and denying. That takes a lot of energy, and it can also affect your shot," Barnes said. "(MVNU) did a nice job. I thought they were on us. For the most part, they didn't let us get too many wide-open threes, they doubled Lilly. They had a good gameplan coming in, and I just felt like our numbers, depth, size and stuff wore them down as the game went on."
The Penguins are off for a week before returning to Horizon League play with a colossal home matchup with Cleveland State on Dec. 29.