Youngstown State weathers storm, tops Oakland, 85-69
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ROCHESTER, Mich. -- With Oakland surging and the O'rena rocking in the second half, Youngstown State found itself on the ropes as its 17-point halftime lead was cut to four with 9:59 to play.
But just as the hostile environment reached its fever pitch, YSU found its footing and answered with a final haymaker.
In a game of runs Saturday, YSU's last spurt to answer Oakland's furious rally proved to be the difference en route to an 85-69 decision over the host Golden Grizzlies.
Oakland (7-12, 5-3 Horizon League) had trimmed YSU's lead to 59-55 before the Penguins (14-5, 6-2 Horizon League) answered with a 19-4 run to put the game away for good.
The win was the fourth in a row for YSU and snapped a five-game win streak for Oakland. The Penguins are 6-2 in Horizon League play for the first time in program history, and the 14-5 overall mark is YSU's best since 1997.
"We said we just need to regroup and understand what we have to do," YSU guard Brandon Rush said. "So we just wanted to run the score back up and do what we had to do and lock in defensively."
And that defensive effort -- along with a dominant performance on the boards -- was critical.
Despite coughing up 21 turnovers, Youngstown State held Oakland to 25-of-60 from the field (41.7 percent) and limited the Golden Grizzlies to one-shot possessions nearly every time down the court. YSU held a 38-21 advantage in rebounding. Oakland had just four offensive rebounds.
"I thought it was really, really impressive," YSU coach Jerrod Calhoun said of the defense and rebounding.
He added, "I think it's the key to basketball. It's all about possessions, so if you can value it, and as good as we score, if we can just limit teams to one shot, we'll be hard to beat."
And, as Calhoun would later point out, plenty of players contributed on both ends. Rush led the way with a 30-point day and was 7-for-10 from 3-point range. Malek Green added 20 points and eight rebounds, and Bryce McBride tallied 19 points and six assists. McBride went 5-of-6 from deep.
Adrian Nelson also was in double figures, posting a double-double with 11 points and 15 rebounds.
As a team, YSU was 32-of-58 overall and 14-of-26 from 3-point range against Oakland's zone defense.
"(Oakland's) zone is very unique. ... It's a tandem zone with some 1-3-1 principles and forces the ball in the middle," Calhoun explained. "They really double-team the ball quite a bit, so there's a lot of decision-making. If you haven't seen it, you can struggle. But our guys settled down. To score 85 on the road is a real testament to our unselfishness. We still had 23 assists."
Of his day, Rush said, "It was all because of my teammates. (My coaches) put me in the right spots (against the zone) knowing where I would hit shots at. We all moved the ball. Bryce had five threes, and we were all hitting. They had no answer for us because we kept the ball moving and weren't stagnant."
Green and Nelson provided the early baskets to get YSU back in gear. As Oakland had clipped YSU's lead to four, the front-court duo scored the Penguins' next six points, and then Rush canned a 3-pointer to push the lead back out to 68-55. Then, Rush scored eight of YSU's next 10 points as the advantage grew to 78-57, the largest lead of the game. The closest Oakland got the rest of the way was 15.
Youngstown State will stay on the road this week, as the Penguins travel to Wisconsin to face Green Bay on Thursday and league leader Milwaukee on Saturday.
"This is a huge win, and we have a chance to go to Wisconsin next for first place," Calhoun said.
And with an eye to the future, the coach made YSU's case to be shown on national TV when Oakland makes its return trip to Youngstown on Jan. 27. That matchup and Purdue Fort Wayne's game at Cleveland State are those that could be selected for an ESPN2 showing.
"We're off to the best start since the 90s, so hopefully the Horizon League will put us on national TV in two weeks," Calhoun said. "We're up for that game on a Friday night. Our team can score the ball as good as anybody in the country, so I hope our guys get rewarded with that game on national TV."
jwhetzel@tribtoday.com