YSU’s offense carries Penguins past Navy’s defense for 75-65 victory
Penguins win 7th straight game to tie school Division I record
Trending
YOUNGSTOWN -- With what Youngstown State wants to do on offense, Navy wants to do the same thing on the defensive end.
The Penguins like to score a lot of points, but the Midshipmen are the antithesis of that and want to limit the number of points opposing teams score.
YSU's offense got the best of Navy's defense Thursday, as the Penguins won their seventh straight game, beating the Midshipmen 75-65.
The seven-game win streak ties the school's Division I record. YSU also won seven straight during the 1983-1984 and 1997-1998 seasons.
"We had a good approach the last couple of days; this team is in a good groove," head coach Jerrod Calhoun said. "Seven in a row to tie the record is a pretty neat accomplishment for this group. ... I like where our head is, and I like how we finished (Thursday). I think Navy is a good team and they're a team that's never going to go away. They're well-coached, they guard and I knew it was going to be 40 minutes."
The Midshipmen are 16th in the country in scoring defense, giving up just 61.8 points per game, but the Penguins set the tone early.
YSU burst out of the gates from the opening tip, scoring 19 points in the first five minutes to take an early 10-point lead. Fifth-year Brandon Rush scored 10 of those points.
"It was great to get off to a start like that because they're holding teams to under 65," Rush said. "It was good to show them that they may have good defense, but we can run offense as well."
But Navy continued to vary its approach defensively, switching between its half-court defense and some 1-2-2 three-quarter court pressure, and the Penguins started to cool down offensively.
After YSU had built as much as a 12-point lead during the first half, the Midshipmen had cut the deficit in half, and trailed by just six at halftime.
Much like they did to begin the first half though, the Penguins stormed out of the gates to open the second half. YSU hit five of its first eight shots, and opened on a 12-2 run after halftime to take its biggest lead of the game (17 points). The Midshipmen would get no closer than nine points the rest of the way.
"Kudos to the coaches for a great scout -- Coach Ben (Asher), Coach (Danny) Reese -- all those guys. They were on us about the little things," fifth-year DJ Burns said. "We knew this game was going to be tough, just from the scrappiness and from the competitiveness. But our older guys were able to get us to lock into the scout and take away what they do best. We still could have done a way better job on defense I feel, but we did our job and came up with a win, so that's all that matters."
YSU had 18 assists on 28 made field goals, while also turning the ball over just nine times against Navy's defense.
The Penguins were able to limit turnovers, even with one of their primary ball handlers, Brett Thompson, in foul trouble throughout the game. Thompson picked up his fourth foul midway through the second half and had to sit out a long stretch.
"We've done a good job valuing the ball," Calhoun said. "And I thought we really threw the ball into the post. Ziggy and DJ were really good down there, then DJ and Ziggy can also pick and pop it. Then (Jaylen Bates) gave us great minutes off the bench with Brett in foul trouble and other guys stepped up."
After carrying YSU early, Rush led the Penguins in scoring, finishing with 23 points, while Burns had 19 and Ziggy Reid chipped in 14.
"That's what type of team this is -- when somebody gets hot, we gotta continue to get him the ball, and I thought we did a nice job getting Brandon the ball and running good stuff for him," Calhoun said. "He was here last year. He knew we wanted this game bad. They beat us last year in their tournament at their place, so we weren't too happy about that last year."
The Penguins now have 10 days off before they resume conference play for good for the rest of the season. YSU will host Oakland at the Beeghly Center on Dec. 31 as part of a New Year's Eve doubleheader. The women face IUPUI at noon, then the men take on the Golden Grizzlies at 2:30 p.m.
nmadhavan@tribtoday.com
Youngstown State 75, Navy 65
N: 32 33 -- 65
YSU: 38 37 -- 75
NAVY (3-7, 0-0 Patriot): Mitch Fischer 3-6 0-0 6, Donovan Draper 4-11 5-5 13, Austin Inge 2-9 0-0 5, Austin Benigni 2-8 2-3 6, Kam Summers 2-5 0-0 4, Jack Medalie 2-5 0-0 5, Mike Woods 1-2 0-0 2, Carnegie Johnson 1-2 0-0 2, Mac MacDonald 7-10 0-0 17, Lysander Rehnstrom 2-3 0-1 5. TOTALS: 26-61 7-9 65.
YOUNGSTOWN STATE (10-3, 2-0 Horizon): Ziggy Reid 6-9 2-3 14, DJ Burns 6-10 5-6 19, Brandon Rush 9-16 2-2 23, Brett Thompson 2-5 2-2 7, Bryson Langdon 2-8 0-0 4, Jaylen Bates 2-4 0-0 5, John Lovelace Jr. 1-4 0-1 3. TOTALS: 28-59 11-14 75.