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Motivated Bohannon sparks YSU’s win streak

Special to Tribune Chronicle Youngstown State’s Naz Bohannon drives to the hoop during this Feb. 7 game against Milwaukee. Bohannon has been the vocal catalyst in the Penguins four-game winning streak. The Penguins take on IUPUI tonight, starting at 7 p.m.

YOUNGSTOWN — Naz Bohannon stood at the foul line. A deep breath was followed by sharp concentration as he trusted his repetition.

The Lorain native arched his shot and saw the orange sphere touch no rim and graze the white twine netting on the way down to the playing surface.

Paul Molinari, an assistant coach for the Youngstown State University men’s basketball program, intervened and Bohannon kept practicing.

He shot 57.6 percent from the line last year, which trickled into the first part of this season. It’s not like Bohannon wasn’t practicing last season, trying to remedy this problem. He had a different focus, shooting to make all net instead of just making free throws.

He’s made 83.3 percent of his shots during Horizon League play this season.

Motivation. Naz Bohannon has been the it factor for a YSU team in the midst of a four-game win streak, heading into tonight’s game against IUPUI (14-11, 6-6).

YSU (10-16, 6-7) is a game-and-a-half out of third place in the Horizon League standings where UIC (13-12, 7-5) resides. The top eight teams in the Horizon League make the postseason with the top four hosting first-round games. YSU is tied with Detroit Mercy for seventh place.

Bohannon, a 6-foot-6, 230-pound sophomore forward, is a mechanical engineering major. He earned his associate’s degree from Lorain Community College before graduating from Lorain High School. He is the quintessential student-athlete.

That motivation in the classroom carries on the floor as the team’s leader. You even saw it last season as he displayed it numerous times for a team trying to figure out its new direction.

There was no figuring things out after a devastating loss to the Horizon League cellar-dweller Cleveland State on Jan. 26. The Penguins spent the next couple of days powering through, being the team they expect before the Oakland (Mich.) and Detroit Mercy road trip, which started this four-game win streak.

Bohannon has been a leader wherever he’s been, on the court, as defensive end of the Titans football team in Lorain or wherever the gregarious young man goes. He is the voice of this Penguins team.

“Coaches don’t win games,” YSU coach Jerrod Calhoun said. “We do all the work, all the prep work. We don’t play the game. We can’t talk out the court for them. We can’t huddle the team up.

“You’ve got to have guys in your corner that can do those things. Naz does all that. When Naz does that, he effects people really, really good. His leadership qualities are going to last him a lifetime. If everybody could be a leader like him. When he’s intentional, he knows what he’s doing and he’s impacting in a positive way, boy it carries. He’s carried us the last four games.”

Satisfied? Not even close. Saturday’s convincing win over a talented Green Bay team won’t be the last for these focused Penguins. Bohannon won’t let it be.

“Treat it like a piece of gum,” he said. “We won. Enjoy tonight. Tomorrow, get back to the drawing board. Nibble on it a little bit. Spit it out. Now we have IUPUI and UIC. All our energy has to go into let’s go 2-0 this week. Take it week by week, game by game.”

This week it’s IUPUI and UIC (13-12, 7-5). Next week it’s the final regular-season road games at league-leader Northern Kentucky (20-6, 10-3) and second-place Wright State (15-11, 9-4).

YSU finishes the regular season March 2 as the Penguins host Cleveland State (7-19, 2-11).

“When you believe in something, there’s no telling where it could go,” Bohannon said. “Right now, we believe we can win out.”

It’s almost like believing your free throws can go in every time you step to the foul line.

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