YSU tops Cleveland State, 85-71
Brandon Rush’s 21 points leads a group of four players in double digits
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YOUNGSTOWN -- For each Cleveland State run, Youngstown State had an answer.
The Penguins picked up their third consecutive victory Thursday night at the Beeghly Center, a 85-71 Horizon League decision over the Vikings in front of 3,031 fans.
The victory snapped a four-game losing streak to CSU.
"We celebrated, but not too much," YSU coach Jerrod Calhoun said of the victory. "We have a board where we put our Horizon League wins, but to win a championship, you have to win your home games. I thought tonight ... to see this city get behind our men's team and our women's team -- I felt the vibe when I got in the building at 5:15."
The Penguins featured balance, as four players scored in double figures. Brandon Rush scored 21 points, including four shots from 3-point range, while Adrian Nelson added 16 points and eight rebounds. Malek Green added 15 points and six boards and Dwanye Cohill poured in 16 points and tallied six assists.
Rush scored his 1,000th point at the free throw line in the game's waning moments.
Bryce McBride added four points, four assists and a rebound in addition to a strong defensive performance.
"It's fun being around great players. When you have great players around you, a team doesn't really know how to stop you," Rush said. "So they're trying to stop one player like they did with Dwayne today, and a lot of other players caught onto that. So me, (Nelson), (Green) and (McBride) played well, because they can't really just focus on one player on this team."
McBride and Rush each have come into their own in recent weeks, something Calhoun says was just a matter of building chemistry and getting comfortable.
"You can practice in the summer, you can scrimmage, you can do all that. But you have to get into games and see how guys are going to respond," Calhoun said. "You have to be able to coach them in games, and I think both those two guards ... are a big part of the team this year."
Youngstown State (10-4, 2-1) led 39-32 at half and pushed that advantage to as large as 15 with 10:24 to go in the second half. But Cleveland State (7-7, 2-1) didn't go quietly, as the Vikings cut YSU's advantage to as low as three once and five a handful of times down the stretch.
CSU's final run came just before the 5-minute mark, as a Tae Williams layup off a YSU turnover brought the Vikings to within 70-65. But YSU answered with a Cohill jumper and a Green layup to push back out toa 74-67 advantage. That was as close as Cleveland State got the rest of the way.
The Penguins moved the ball well, racking up 19 assists on 30 field goals to just nine turnovers -- an area YSU has struggled with at times to this point -- against a physical CSU defense that spent a good chunk of the night in a press.
"Really, really good passing," Calhoun said. "I thought our transition again was really good. We were making good decisions. (Cleveland State) pressed a lot, so to be able to handle that pressure and look ahead and have four guys helping with outlets was really good."
YSU also shot well, sinking 30 of 53 field goals (56.6 percent) and eight of its 18 shots from deep.
Cleveland State, meanwhile, went 29-of-54, largely through attacking the paint. The Vikings hit just three triples, but outpaced the Penguins 46-34 down low.
"Their whole deal is to drive the ball," Calhoun said. "(Daniyal Robinson) does a really good job of getting those guys to play to their strengths. They're going to get downhill, they're going to put pressure on the rim. ... They're big and long and strong, and that was a big team. ... So I give our guys credit for matching their physicality throughout the game."
The Penguins have another critical league contest Saturday, as preseason favorite Purdue Fort Wayne rolls into the Beeghly Center.
"It's a grind. ... Last year, this league was No. 1 in the country in when (games) came down to one or two possessions," Calhoun said.
He added, "They're as good as anybody in this conference."