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Penguins look for rebound tonight

FAIRBORN — The bus exited BB&T Arena in Northern Kentucky, only a 15-to-20-minute drive north toward downtown Cincinnati. Silence. Not much was said by members of the Youngstown State University men’s basketball team. Many were listening to headphones or ear buds. It was a time for reflection and regrouping after a 25-point loss at Northern Kentucky. Friday’s hour-long trip to the Wright State University campus was about focus, concentrating on the ESPN-Plus rebroadcast of the Cleveland State at Wright State game. Looking at the media screens on the team bus, all you ...

Attracting success in home of Norse

HIGHLAND HTS, Ky. — The drive from downtown Cincinnati is about 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the traffic flowing out of the city on Interstate 471 toward a bridge connecting Ohio and Kentucky. The trek into the Bluegrass State starts with a blue sign with a white outline of the horizontal state. Didn’t realize (or forgot) this was the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln. That’s my fun fact for the day. The drive doesn’t take long as the interstate soon becomes a major four-lane road. Turn left and there’s the Northern Kentucky campus. You can see cluster of the yellow and ...

Can YSU remain among the best?

Is Youngstown State one of better teams in the Horizon League? My friend Mike laughs at the thought. ‘Who have they beaten?’ he asks. He starts rattling off Thiel, Westminster, USC-Upstate, North Carolina Central, SEMO (Southeast Missouri State), Robert Morris, Binghamton, along with wins against IUPUI, UIC, Oakland and Detroit in the Horizon League. Eleven wins, seven losses; that’s the Youngstown State University men’s basketball record. They are 8-0 at the Beeghly Center for the first time in decades. Mike wonders what is the overall record of the teams they played. Here ...

Gritty wins define these Penguins

Quiet. Michael Akuchie could hear the sounds of silence inside the confines of the Beeghly Center after basketball games. His squeaking shoes echoed. The sound of the bounces of the inflated, leather basketball, or as it grazed nylon baskets or clanked off the metallic rim reverberated in the abandoned space. The 6-foot-8 junior from Plantation, Florida, spent countless hours in the quiet basketball arena honing his craft, putting up shot after shot with a Youngstown State University men’s basketball student assistant there to corral the errant shots. It has paid off this season, ...

Even windy weather can’t stop Penguins

CHICAGO The incandescent glow of laptops and phones began to illuminate the quiet lull of a bus headed eastward toward Youngstown in the early hours of Tuesday morning, the final day of 2019. Youngstown State University men’s basketball trainer Todd Burkey was busy watching seminars on his laptop to renew his certification. Assistant coach Ethan Faulkner was intently analyzing Monday’s win over UIC as the Penguins go to 9-6 and 2-0 in the Horizon League, the only team to win two straight road wins to start this conference season. This mode of travel, taking a bus back from ...

Area wrestlers take on the challenge

Stepping on the line seems so easy. It’s a flat line on a mat. You simply step on it. And yet so many miss it. So many avoid it. And so many are scared to death of it. The lines on a wrestling mat are approximately 3 feet apart from another and painted either red or green, and each competitor must step on their designated line before a match can start. They’re right in the middle of the mat. You can’t miss them. Well, usually, you can’t miss them. Standing in front of a large crowd with all eyes on you as you prepare to tussle with someone who is often stronger, faster ...