Maxey hits game-winning three as YSU completes comeback against Wright State

Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes. YSU's Juwan Maxey celebrates as the Beeghly Center crowd reacts after his game-winning corner three against Wright State on Thursday night.
YOUNGSTOWN — For the vast majority of the game, victory looked like a pipe dream for Youngstown State.
The Penguins trailed Wright State by as many as 18 points in the first half and by as much as 17 in the second half. With about 13 minutes to go, YSU looked like it was out of answers on both ends of the floor.
“We really had nothing going on offense or on defense,” head coach Ethan Faulkner said. “Couldn’t find a rhythm on either side of the ball, and a lot of that is to their credit. They are a very good basketball team.”
But against all odds, the Penguins rallied all the way back, as junior guard Juwan Maxey knocked down a game-winning corner three to lift YSU past the Raiders 88-86 on Thursday night at Zidian Family Arena.
“It’s funny, I don’t have a good explanation for how we won that game,” Faulkner said. “In the huddles, we were just trying to get the thing to where it was manageable. That’s what we kept talking about. Let’s just keep chipping away and chipping away.
“Finally, late in that game, I thought we found a little bit of defensive rhythm and got some critical stops, and we had some guys make some incredible individual plays offensively. Really proud of our team for how we fought back and won that game.”
After the furious comeback made it a one-point game, the Penguins faced with a chance to win with about 10.6 seconds left after Wright State’s Keaton Norris hit a go-ahead mid-range jumper.
Out of a timeout, senior guard EJ Farmer looked to drive — having just scored a go-ahead basket off the glass on the previous possession — but the Raiders collapsed into the paint to take that option away.
So Farmer found Maxey, who curled off a screen and was wide open in the right corner.
“I couldn’t believe he was that open in the corner, to be honest,” Farmer said.
Maxey, whose signature and repeatable shooting form has made him the team’s best 3-point shooter all season, calmly knocked down the game-winner and celebrated with three fingers in the air.
“It was great, obviously. It was just coming down to finding an open spot. EJ found me, and it worked out in my favor,” Maxey said. “EJ got an easy one (on the last possession), so we wanted to get him downhill because he had the matchup. But EJ being unselfish, he found me and it worked out.”
Wright State had to go the length of the floor with three seconds left and Alex Huibregtse’s heave from half court was well wide of the rim at the buzzer.
With how the Raiders were shooting the ball all night — Wright State shot 56.1% overall and knocked down 11 threes, including nine in the first half — YSU’s comeback required game-changing plays from a myriad of players up and down the lineup.
The Penguins got an and-1 from Nico Galette, a put-back dunk by Gabe Dynes, a layup in traffic by Ty Harper, a steal by Cris Carroll and the baskets from Farmer and Maxey all over the course of the final few minutes.
Had it not been for that culmination of events down the stretch, the result may not have gone the Penguins’ way the way it did.
“It’s really just the coaches pushing us. … That’s a tough team over there. They make shots, so we knew the run was going to come, and we just had to keep pushing,” Farmer said. “We just locked in. It was just us together. Whenever we play together and do it for each other, it’s always a good outcome for us, and I feel like those last eight minutes were really good for us.”
YSU countered the Raiders’ fiery shooting performance, which included 23 points from Preseason Horizon League Player of the Year Brandon Noel, with five players finishing in double figures.
Farmer led the way with 23 points, while Harper had 17, Carroll had 10 and Maxey and Galette each finished with 15.
Faulkner hopes the Penguins can use the emotion and momentum generated by their comeback and game-winner to provide a spark, as they head into the most pivotal part of the regular season during the month of February.
“That’s what we talked about in the locker room after the game,” Faulkner said. “Let’s learn that we have to play for 40 minutes — we cannot continue to dig ourselves holes and think that we’re just going to battle back from 10, 12, 14 or 17 points down every single night.
“We hope this will build some momentum — get us our mojo back a little bit, which I think we had lost a little bit maybe the last three or four weeks. This is the most important time of the year. We’re heading into February. Conference tournament, those things are right around the corner. Everybody’s battling for positioning in the league. … We’ve gotta continue to get better, and there’s certainly things I think we can continue to get better at, which excites me.”
YSU begins the final month of the regular season on Saturday with a home contest against IU Indy at 2 p.m. at the Beeghly Center.