The Town Crier

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NCAA Tournament Selection Show
By Steve Porter

A large crowd gathered in Beeghly Center to watch the NCAA Selection Show projected on the scoreboard. 

Top Seeds were: Arizona, Indiana, Syracuse, and Wake Forest.

When Youngstown State’s name was called as the 11th seed in the Midwest Region to play #6 seed Fresno State, the crowd went wild.

“I’m ecstatic by the #11 seed selection,” exclaimed Coach KD Durst. “While I think we deserve it, I wouldn’t have been surprised if our seed had been lower. I don’t know that much about Fresno State, so we’re going to have to get busy reviewing scouting reports and viewing tapes of their games.”

As he left Beeghly, Rob Masters, a long time fan, said, “This is so great! I’m getting up in age and thought I’d never see the Penguins be a part of March Madness. But, it’s happening! I have to admit I said some disparaging things about the Athletic Department when they hired who I thought was an inexperienced coach. And then when KD’s team seemed to slip down in his 2nd season here, I was sure things were going bad yet again. But the job he’s done, particularly with the way the team has played these past two seasons, makes me eat my words. Penguin Power, baby!!!”

Other Horizon League teams going to post-season tournaments are:

NIT: Milwaukee, 2nd seed in West Region playing #7 seed Rutgers
CBI: Detroit, 3rd seed in East Region playing #6 seed North Carolina A&T
CIT: Wright State, 5th seed in South Region playing #4 seed Wofford

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Youngstown State Journey to St. Louis
By Steve Porter

Four years ago Youngstown State basketball was a mess following years and years of failure. The hiring of Coach Kendrick “KD” Durst was looked at by many as at best a shot in the dark due to his lack of Division I coaching experience.

Durst began working with the hand with which he had been dealt. Getting players with some individual skills but without the ability to play as a unit was a big obstacle to overcome. But during his first season as head coach, the Penguins emerged as a team that finished with a 16-15 record and a first round exit in the CBI Tournament. While his second season appeared to be a step backwards (the team’s record was 14-16 with no post-season tournament appearance), he was still in a building mode. That was proven when his 3rd season team ran off 25 wins against just 9 losses. That team made it to the semi-finals of the NIT Tournament. Then this season’s team has gone 23-8 thus far and will be making a trip to the NCAA Tournament. 

Youngstown State’s Athletic Director Vic Morrissey said, “We’re proud of the job Coach Durst has done in his short time at the university. He’s taken the team steadily along the road to success and much quicker than we anticipated. As he continues to build his own team through recruits and transfers, I expect even greater accomplishments by the Penguins.”

This season’s team is anchored by senior center Jamal Grady. Grady has been with Coach Durst all 4 seasons. He’s averaged nearly 15 ppg and 6 rpg over the course of 120 games he’s played during his career. This season his scoring and rebounding averages (15.9 ppg and 6.3 rpg) are slightly below those Grady produced last season but as Coach Durst said, “Jamal’s play has improved each and every year. The only reason his numbers are below those of last season is that we have had improved strength at every position and a much deeper bench, so Jamal hasn’t had to carry as much of the load.”

The capabilities of those teammates supporting Grady have dramatically improved the past two seasons. This season a four-man interior group consisting of Grady, Aaron Tice (9.9 ppg and 5.9 rpg), Kent Jones (6.4 ppg and 3.1 rpg), and Kevin Anderson (5.8 ppg and 1.6 rpg) has scored 48% of the team’s points.

At SF, Colin Chambliss has been on the court more than any other player (26.9 mpg) and during his freshman year scored 10.5 ppg and grabbed 5.4 rpg.

Five players shared guard duties. William Swan (7.5 ppg and 1.3 apg) played limited minutes early in the season but his playing time increased as the season progressed and by the end of the season he was in the starting lineup. B.J. Dennis (7.0 ppg and 2.0 apg), Linehan Murphy (7.0 ppg and 3.3 apg), Levall Hart (4.5 ppg and 3.2 apg), and Tim Lostetter (4.0 ppg and 1.0 apg) shared minutes at the guard positions along with Swan. Hart also filled in at SF when Durst wanted a small lineup on the court.

“All ten of those players have led the team at some point during this season,” said Coach Durst. “And we have 3 other players who have played very limited minutes but have shown they can step in and contribute.”

“We’re ready to go to the NCAA Tournament Regional in St. Louis and take on Fresno State. The Bulldogs are ranked #18 in the nation in the polls. They’ve really got a lot of talented players. So we’re the definite underdogs. But I think we’ll give them a tussle and represent the university and the league well,” said Coach Durst.

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Results For Other Horizon League Teams:

NIT Round 1: Milwaukee lost to Rutgers 73-57…after a well-played and close first half, the Panthers ran out of gas and shot poorly in the 2nd half. SF Jason Minahan topped their scoring with 13 points. 

CBI Round 1: Detroit beat North Carolina A&T 74-63…the Titans played a disciplined game, and gradually pulled away for an easy victory led by PG Geordie Wright’s 15 points.

CIT Round 1: Wright State was stopped by Wofford 76-64…the Raiders were simply blitzed by the Terriers in the first half (54-29) and couldn’t make up that much of a difference in the 2nd half…C Ivoree Cameron scored 20 points for Wright State.

CBI Round 2: The Ohio Bobcats opened a 10 point lead in the first half, but Detroit narrowed the margin at the half to 37-33. Then in the 2nd half, the Titans gradually eased ahead of Ohio. With 5 minutes to play Detroit held a 10 point lead and then stubbornly held off the Bobcats. Detroit won 83-74. SG Copley Scott scored 20 points for the Titans.

CBI Semifinals: Detroit ran into an offensive juggernaut and lost to Grambling 95-85. Grambling hit 57% of their FG attempts and 43% of their 3’s and their SG Dwight Crawford scored 33 points. Detroit’s C William Rogers scored 16 while pulling down 14 boards.

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Youngstown State’s First Game in the Big Dance
By Steve Porter

The Youngstown State basketballers took on the #18 ranked and #6 seeded Fresno State Bulldogs (24-7) in the first round of the Midwest Regional. The Penguins were challenged to stop Fresno State’s perimeter starters with SF Keith Woodward scoring 19.7 ppg, SG Allen Scott adding 13.4 ppg, and PG Jermaine Reed contributing 11.3 ppg. The Bulldogs are the 5th highest scoring team in the nation, averaging 82.5 ppg. With Youngstown State being the 21st highest scoring team, averaging 79.4 ppg, the prediction was for a very high scoring game.

The Penguins looked tight on their first two possessions while Fresno State was scoring 4 quick points. But SG William Swan hit a 12 foot baseline jumper with 18:41 to put YSU on the board. The Penguins hung close but the Bulldogs maintained a small lead until a design play with Colin Chambliss providing a great screen that freed Jamal Grady to sink a 10 footer giving the Penguins their first lead of the game at 19-18 with 11:41 on the clock. Youngstown State held onto a small lead through most of the remainder of the half and came away with a think 44-43 advantage at the break. The Penguins his 62% of their FG attempts and out-rebounded the Bulldogs 19-12. C Jamal Grady scored 11 and his relief, Kevin Anderson, added 8 while PF Aaron Tice dropped in 10 points. SF Keith Woodward scored 13 for Fresno State.

YSU scored the first 4 points in the 2nd half, but turnovers allowed Fresno State to come back and tie the game. But with Coach Durst shuttling players in and out to keep fresh legs on the floor, the Penguins took a 61-55 lead with 11-1/2 minutes remaining in the game. The Bulldogs then tied the game but YSU quickly pulled away and when Kevin Anderson hit a 15 footer from the right of the key, the Penguins led 76-66 with 4-1/2 minutes remaining. Fresno State cut the lead to 78-72 at the 1:47 mark. The Bulldogs were forced to foul with a minute remaining and Aaron Tice sunk both free throws to extend the lead to 8. Fresno State got a tip in and then fouled on the inbounds play. B.J. Dennis made one of two shots and the Penguins were on top by 7 with 42 seconds on the clock. The Bulldogs quickly scored and immediately fouled again. Linehan Murphy sank both shots to reestablish the 7 point advantage but now just 27 seconds were left to play. The Bulldogs missed two late 3’s and Youngstown State came away with a shocking 83-76 NCAA Tourney victory.

Although the Penguins turned the ball over 17 times to Fresno State’s 9 turnovers and gave up 24 fast break points, YSU outshot the Bulldogs 55% to 40% and dominated the boards (44-30).

Youngstown State’s offense was led by C Jamal Grady with 23 points and PF Aaron Tice who scored 21. Reserve C Kevin Anderson added 10. Fresno State’s top scorer was SF Keith Woodward with 20 points.

Coach KD Durst said, “The guys really executed our game plan to perfection. Fresno State is a darned good team so our guys were continually challenged but stepped up big each and every time. They easily could have let the atmosphere and pressure get to them, but they played like they were at home in front of our fans. We’re going to celebrate, but then we have to buckle down quickly because the level of competition goes up stiffly from here and we don’t have much time to prepare.”

“We’re just so stoked right now,” said Jamal Grady. “Gotta give all the credit to Coach Durst though. He instilled confidence in all of us that we could win, created a game plan that really worked for us, and even though we all wanted to be on the court as much as possible, he subbed us in and out so that we had a fresher team on the court throughout the game.” 

The Penguins next opponent with be #14 ranked, #3 seed Alabama (26-7). The Crimson Tide beat Robert Morris 75-62 in the first round.

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Penguins Come Up Against Alabama
By Steve Porter

Youngstown State faced yet another high-scoring team in the Alabama Crimson Tide. The team was the 6th highest scoring team averaging 83.1 ppg. They also were the 7th strongest rebounding team in the nation and 4 of their 5 starters possess a height advantage over the counterpart on the Penguins. Four of their 5 starters average in double figures. When asked how his team would counter such apparent dominance, Coach Durst replied, “We respect Alabama. But we will harass and attack to the best of our ability. I have confidence in the abilities of my players and have seen their heart and been impressed with how they never back down.”

The defenses of both teams predominated as the game opened with neither team scoring a field goal until Alabama got a put-back to go down after nearly 3 minutes of play. The Crimson Tide then went on a run to put the Penguins in a 29-8 hole. Alabama’s defense continued to devastate the Penguins and the lead ballooned to 27 points before a late rally by YSU finally began putting some points on the board for them. When the first half ended, Alabama still held a commanding 51-32 lead. Even with some good shooting in the final portion of the half, YSU still only hit 37% of their first half shots and Alabama’s defense had forced 9 turnovers by the Penguins. Meanwhile the Crimson Tide hit 53% of their shots and held a 21-14 rebounding advantage. C Jamal Grady scored 10 points for the Penguins, while 3 players, led by Carlos Aggers 15, had double digit scoring.

Alabama maintained a 20 point lead throughout the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half, but Youngstown State mounted an attack that cut the deficit to 9 with 2:11 remaining. But the Penguins could get no closer and lost 81-72.

C Jamal Grady played an exceptionally strong game in his final game as a Penguin, scoring 18 points, pulling down 14 rebounds, and recording 3 blocks and a steal. Alabama’s SF Charles Johnson scored 21 and had 11 rebounds, 7 steals, and 3 blocks.

“We were outclassed for much of the game, but I was impressed by how we finally got out offense and defense working in the final 10 minutes and gave them a run for their money,” said Coach KD Durst. “I’m proud of how our team performed in their first NCAA Tournament. Great team effort, but Jamal Grady showed what he’s made of by scoring 41 points in our two games plus doing an awesome job on the boards and defensively. We’re really going to miss him.”

Levall Hart said, “Tim Lostetter, Jamal Grady and I are all graduating. When the three of us came to YSU as freshmen, we were just happy to be getting to play Division I basketball but figured it could well have been 4 years of losing basketball. Then shortly after being recruited, Coach Durst was hired and really turned things around for Penguins’ basketball. It was like a dream come true to all 3 of us to win conference championships, have 20+ win seasons, and play in the CBI, NIT and the NCAA Tournaments.”

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Horizon League Announces Awards
By Steve Porter

Youngstown State dominated the Horizon League annual awards which were announced yesterday. Paralleling the success of the Penguins as a team this year, individual on the team swept the important awards in the Horizon League. 

Awards presented to those from Penguins were:

Horizon League Player of the Year: C Jamal Grady
Horizon League Freshman of the Year: SF Colin Chambliss
Horizon League Defensive Player of the year: PF Aaron Tice
Horizon League Coach of the Year: Kendrick “KD” Durst
Horizon League 1st Team All Conference: C Jamal Grady
Horizon League 2nd Team All-Conference: PF Aaron Tice

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Penguins Land Recruit
By Steve Porter

The third and last remaining scholarship was accepted by SG Noel Manning. Manning is a 6’5” HS senior from Thoreau, New Mexico. This season he averaged 17.2 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 3.6 apg, 1.8 bpg, and 1.8 spg. He’s an excellent outside shooter and shoots well from inside as well. Beyond being a good scorer, Manning is a strong ball handler and extremely athletic. He’s ranked as the 93rd best recruit in the country.

Other recruits previously signed by Youngstown State are SF James Asbury and C Will O’Neil.

In other news, 1st Assistant Coach Steve Simmons was released and Brandon Warren was hired to replace him. Warren, who is 60 and was Central Michigan’s 3rd assistant, is an exceptionally adept recruiter. Coach Durst said, “Brandon is a welcome addition to our staff. He knows the Midwest very well and is well-connected with a lot of high school and junior college coaches. Although we’ve been satisfied with our recruiting, we think Brandon can take us to the next level.”

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Coach KD Sez
By Steve Porter

Now that things have slowed down a little following the Penguins extremely successful season, I was ble to sit down with Coach KD Durst for an interview:

SP: Congratulations on a great season, Coach. At the beginning of the season, did you expect things to go so well?

KD: Thanks, Steve. I thought we’d have a good team that would compete for the top spot in the Horizon League, but as far as getting to the NCAA Tourney and winning a game there, not really. It’s just too much of a crap shoot to win the league tournament. One off night or one great game by an opponent can knock you out and only the league winner gets to the Big Dance. The team did mesh better than expected though. We had so much depth at all positions that afforded us the luxury to not have to have players on the court until they were dog-tired. And while we had some injuries, they were minor with not all that many games missed by any player.

SP: Were there any pleasant surprises in how individual players developed?

KD: We had a pretty good idea about players since most had played for us at least a season. After pre-season practice, the guys’ capabilities were pretty clear. A couple young players played better than could have been predicted though. Even though we knew Colin Chambliss would be an adequate SF as a freshman, he was stronger than we anticipated, particularly on the boards. And sophomore SG William Swan steadily improved throughout the entire year, so much so that he eventually won a starting role. Both he and Chambliss turned out to be very good outside shooters and I expect that they will be more comfortable next season putting shots up so that will improve their scoring, even though it was good this season. Of course we were absolutely sure that Jamal Grady would be out go-to guy and he was. But Aaron Tice was also extremely strong inside, particularly as a rebounder and awesome defender. Another guy whose been on the team all four years I’ve been here is walk-on Kevin Anderson. This season we really needed him to come in and spell Jamal and Aaron because the only non-starting big man on a scholarship we had to come off the bench was Kent Jones. Kent did a very good job in that role, but we needed one more guy and Kevin came up big for us. Most every game he was able to produce points for us.

SP: So you’re losing Jamal Grady, Kevin Anderson, and two point guards, Levall Hart and Tim Lostetter, to graduation. What’s that portend for next season?

KD: All 3 are leaving big shoes to fill and I can’t expect we will have anyone of Jamal’s stature. First though, the guys who are coming back should even be stronger than they were this season, so that’s a plus. We have Pat White, who was ineligible this year because he transferred to us, who we think can play either SG or PG and he played well as a freshman starter at Oregon. Then LeRoy Delea was a redshirt freshman this season and we hope he will live up to his top-ranked billing he had as a recruit and give us depth up front. The three recruits we got this year all hopefully can come in and contribute for us as freshmen. Two of them, James Asbury and Noel Manley, were ranked in the top 100 nationally and the third, Will O’Neil, looks like he could be a very strong rebounder as well as getting his share of points. Losing Jamal and Kevin up front could mean we need to shift our focus from inside to outside next season, but we’ll see.

SP: You mentioned the good recruits you landed this year, but yet you have changed out your assistant coach responsible for recruiting. What was the reason?

KD: Really I felt it was just time to make a small change in our coaching staff and being able to get Brandon Warren on board was a real opportunity for us to strengthen what already was a good recruiting operation we’ve had.

SP: And speaking of coaching jobs, rumors are that you had several offers including Washington State in the Pac-12 and Texas Christian in the Big 12. Were you tempted to leave?

KD: You know, it’s not surprising that programs do some inquiring after your team makes it to the NCAA Tourney. I’ll be honest, it’s flattering. But I still think I have some unfinished business here at Youngstown State so I never gave serious consideration to any of those inquiries. My only concern is that I’ve been trying to get facility upgrades here, but the money has yet to be made available. If we really want to be more successful recruiting and developing our players, we need to have better facilities.

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YSU Prepares for The 2020-2021 Recruiting Year
By Steve Porter

Youngstown State’s recruit class last season has been rated as 40th best in the nation. The next best recruit class within the Horizon League was Milwaukee at #86. But Coach KD Durst feels the program is ready to move up yet higher in the coming years. Because of that Coach Simmons, who had been the recruiting coordinator, was replaced a month ago by Brandon Warren. 

When asked about his goals for this coming season, 1st Assistant Coach Warren said, “We have 4 scholarships to award this year so we’re going to have to work hard and have a little luck on our side as well. As in previous years, we’re still going to focus on the Midwest region due to a limited budget. I’d really like to be able to aggressively recruit on a national scale, but we’ll have to be content to do that on the secondary market, which is what I call the players still available in the spring.” 

With regard to the type of recruits the Penguins would like to land, Warren laughingly replied, “I’d love to get a guy who can score 30 points, grab 15 rebounds, and dish out 10 assists each and every game.” He then quickly added, “OK, I guess you wanted me to discuss reality instead of dreams. We really need a couple big men, one of whom has the ability to step right in and challenge for a starting role, and a point guard. Then we can go after the best player available regardless of position for the fourth scholarship.”

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Penguins Land First Recruit
By Steve Porter

The Youngstown State University Athletic Department reported that the Penguins basketball team has received a verbal acceptance of a scholarship offer from their first recruit of this season. C Morris Phelan, a senior at Westside High School in Gary, Indiana will be heading to YSU next year. Phelan is 6’9” tall and as a junior last year, he averaged 15.2 ppg and 9.4 rpg. He’s presently the 96th highest ranked recruit in the nation. The Penguins still have 3 more scholarships to fill this year.

Brandon Warren the Penguins’ new 1st Assistant Coach who is responsible for recruiting said, “It’s really been a battle getting recruits to visit our campus this year so that’s hampered our ability to attract them to our program. We’ve been aiming high so we lost some of the talented recruits we were pursuing to higher prestige programs. But I’m really happy to have Morris coming our way next season. In the summer it didn’t appear we had a chance of getting him, but he was impressed when he finally visited our campus and then Coach Durst did a great job of working him and his parents during recent home visits. He’s a strong inside scorer, but more importantly he’s a rock-solid rebounder and a lock-down defender. With Aaron Tice graduating after this season, it’s important to get another tenacious defender inside and I think Morris can be that person. His coach has told us how hard a worker Morris is and that he’s had no injury problems so that’s good news.”

An unnamed source has said that the remaining Penguins’ recruiting budget is low and could impede efforts to go after recruits and that Coach Durst is concerned they may not fill scholarships that will be opening this season. Calls to the Athletic Department and basketball coaches to follow up on this were unreturned. Prior discussions with Coach Durst have revealed that his attempts over the past three years to increase the recruiting budget have been thwarted.

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Tension in the Penguin Colony
By Steve Porter

Rumors about some rough practices and animosity between players on the Penguins basketball team surfaced this first week of November. When asked about them, 2nd Assistant Coach A.D. Kenna responded, “We really amped up the intensity of our practices this week. Coach Durant thought our practices had been good, but that the players were settling into too much of a routine. So we put some pressure on them and it resulted in a little pushing and shoving and a lot of trash talk and one-upmanship. But I think we needed that to increase the competition for playing time and starting roles. There’s just a little over a week before we start playing other teams. We still have a cohesive team that will pull together once we get our season rolling.”

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Penguins Ready for Season’s Start
By Steve Porter

“We get that question before every season”, said Coach KD Durst. “’Who are your starters going to be?’ And like every season, I can only truthfully respond that it’s an evolution. As players develop and as the team coalesces, the starters may change and players may move from one position to another so who starts in the first game of the season is often rather immaterial. We’re still trying things out. A guy who starts in the first game may turn out to be a heckuva 6th man…a guy who can come in after 5 or 6 minutes into the gamd and light a fire for us. If that’s the case, even though he may be a good starter, his true value will be as a game-changing substitute.
“But to satisfy you all, here’s the starters against George Mason…

“At the point will be sophomore transfer Pat White. Pat’s 6-5 and not only did he have a good freshman year, averaging 11.6 ppg and 3.1 apg for the Oregon Ducks, but he’s been productive and a leader in our practices the past month. 5’7” senior Linehan Murphy who started two-thirds of our games the past 2 seasons continues to perform well and will get a lot of court time, but I’m liking the 10 inch height advantage that Pat brings.

“At the two will be B.J. Dennis. But it’s really be a toss up as to whether he or William Swan will start so I suspect both will not only get a lot of minutes but also be starters throughout the season and we’ll just see how it all plays out. They’re both 6 foot juniors. Freshman Noel Manley, who is 6’5”, could be a future star for us so we’ll try to give him as much experience as we can so he can develop.

“Colin Chambliss will again start for us at the small forward position to begin the season. But we’re loaded at that position with talented freshman James Asbury joining the team this year and senior William Worley and sophomore Lee Pauly returning. James, William and Lee are all big (6-7 or 6-8), so if they develop to the point of being strong starters, it’s possible we may move Chambliss to shooting guard. Even though Colin is just 6’3”, he’s a rock solid rebounder so that would really beef up our team rebounding capabilities. He’s also got some very good ball handling and passing skills.

“At power forward 6’6” senior Aaron Tice should be even more of a force scoring, on the boards, and I’m sure will continue to be our foremost defender. He’ll be backed up by 6-8 redshirt freshman LeRoy Delea and we’ll also probably have Lee Pauly moving inside to back up Tice.

“6’8” freshman Will O’Neil has come on strong during practice and will start at center. But 6-7 senior Kent Jones could also start for us at that position. While Jamal Grady left some big shoes to fill, I think Will is going to eventually be one helluva player and we already know that Kent Jones is a solid force inside.

We’re also got two new walk-on players, 6-4 sophomore Blake Elleby who is a point guard and 6-8 junior Mike Watson who is a power forward as backups at those positions.

“We’ve gone from having 100% of our players coming from Ohio to a point where now over half our scholarship players are from out of state. I think that shows how dynamic our recruiting program has become.”

When asked how he thought his squad would do this season, Durst replied, “It’s normally my nature to play down our chances, but to be honest, I’m feeling good about how we will do this season. I think we can compete with any of the teams on our schedule this year. I can’t predict how many games we’ll win and lose, but I think we will win our share of games and again compete for the top of the Horizon League. Our goal is to get back to the NCAA Tournament and do some damage there. But we know that after winning both the Horizon League regular season standings and the conference tournament plus winning a game in the NCAA Tourney other teams will be gunning for us. So we’re gonna need to play consistently at the top of our game.”

Backing up Durst’s optimism, the Horizon Sportswriters Group has unanimously picked the Penguins to come out atop the Horizon League standings this season. The Sportswriters Group predicts that Valparaiso, Detroit, Wisconsin-Green Bay, and Wright State will follow Youngstown State in the top half of the league standings.

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Penguins Shaky in Opener
By Steve Porter

The Youngstown State Penguins had their season opener at home last night. They were matched up against the visiting George Mason Patriots. 

The Penguins shot horribly and were completely manhandled on the boards early and fell behind 24-8 with 11 minutes to play in the first half. YSU slowly whittled away at the lead and by the end of the half trailed by just 6 points, 34-28. Even though they began to him some shots late in the half, the Penguins only knocked down 25% of their FG attempts in the first half. Freshman C Will O’Neil tallied 8 points to lead their scoring.

Youngstown State came out of the locker room breathing fire and tied the game at 36-36 with 18:27 to play. The Penguins took their first lead with 17:41 left at 38-36. Even though the Patriots could not regain the lead, they kept the game close. With 6 seconds to play, Pat White sunk 2 free throws to ice the game for the Penguins who pulled out a squeaker, 72-68. YSU improved their shooting for the entire game to 37%, but the primary difference in the game was their 22-10 advantage in turnovers. 

C Will O’Neil scored 16 and grabbed 6 boards, PG Pat White finished with 15 points and 6 assists, and SF Colin Chambliss hit for 12 while pulling down 8 rebounds.

“I’m hoping this was opening game jitters,” said Coach KD Durst. “Our shooting was abysmal in the first 12-14 minutes of the game and while it got better thereafter, it never really was good. Fortunately our defense, while not rock solid, was good enough to keep them from completely running away from us. We were able to control the pace and game flow in the 2nd half, so that was a positive. Our two new guys, Will O’Neil and Pat White, showed a lot of Thpromise. I’m glad we were able to pull out a win, but we really need to step it up, particularly since our next 4 games are on the road.”

PG Pat White said, “It was really good to be able to play in a game again. Sitting out last year due to the transfer was tough. We have a good bunch of guys on this team. We had a lot of trouble getting loose tonight, but that’s behind us now.”

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Rams Use 2 Runs to Butt Penguins
By Steve Porter

The Penguins visited the Rhode Island Rams last night. The two teams exchanged baskets up to the point it was tied 16-16, but then the Rams went on a 18-2 run. Rhode Island then kept the Penguins from making an offsetting run and went on to take a 45-30 halftime advantage. C Will O’Neil hit 8 of 9 shots to score 16 points in the half. 

Midway through the 2nd half, the Penguins began cutting into the Rams’ lead and with 7:11 to go had reduced the deficit to 58-52. Rhode Island re-established a 10 point lead but YSU fought back and when PF Aaron Tice took his man to the basket and layed it in, he made the score 69-65 with 1:44 remaining. The Rams missed a shot and Tice drove to the hoop for another bucket to cut the lead to just 2 points with 1:22 left. A full court press by the Penguins forced a turnover. But the Rams then stole a pass and drove for a lay-in to make it 71-67. C Will O’Neil then cut across the key to drop in a shot to again pull the Penguins within 2 points with 46 seconds on the clock. Instead of fouling, YSU let the Rams work the clock down. SF Colin Chambliss stepped in front of a pass and stole the ball and then flipped it up court to streaking SG William Swan who scored on the break to tie the game with 18 seconds remaining. Rhode Island hit a 3 from the corner with at the 0:04 mark. PG Pat White took the inbounds pass and drove quickly upcourt and lofted a desperation shot from beyond the half court line that miraculously found the silks to tie the game at the buzzer at 74-74.

Rhode Island buried three 3’s early in the O.T. and took an 85-78 lead with 2 minutes left. The Penguins had no more late game magic in them and fell 86-78. Rhode Island hit 14 of 29 three-pointers in the game, but the real difference in the game was that the Rams scored 15 more points than the Penguins at the free throw line.

C Will O’Neil dropped in 24 points while getting 7 rebounds. PF Aaron Tice had a double-double with 16 points and 10 boards and he also had a steal and 3 blocks. PG Pat White scored 10 and had 9 assists. Fpr Rhode Island PG Williams Bowie scored 21 points and hit 5 of 7 of his 3 points shots. 

Coach KD Durst said, “I can’t say enough about how our guys fought back in the latter part of the 2nd half to send the game into overtime. But you have to give credit to Rhode Island for how they caught fire in the O.T. So tonight for us, a good try but no cigar.”

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Penguins Freshman Wins Award
By Steve Porter

The Horizon League named C Will O’Neil as the league’s Freshman of the Week. In his first two collegiate games, O’Neil poured in 40 points, pulled down 13 rebounds, and blocked 6 shots. 

“It was a great start for Will,” said Coach KD Durst. “He works hard in practice and is very focused during games.”

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Penguins Ride Roughshod Over Mustangs
By Steve Porter

Youngstown State travelled to Texas to take on the Southern Methodist Mustangs last night.

The refs called 5 fouls against the Penguins in the first 2-1/2 minutes and PF Aaron Tice was on the bench with 2 fouls after just a minute of play. But YSU was on fire from the field early and led 19-13 with 12 minutes to go in the half. Their lead expanded to 31-18 with 8 minutes remaining in the half. As the Penguins’ shooting cooled in the latter stages of the half their lead shrunk, but they went to the locker room with a solid 41-32 advantage. SF Chris Chambliss was their leading scorer with 10 points in the half.

The YSU offense continued to blister the nets in the 2nd half and their lead grew to 67-48 with 13 minutes to play. SMU cut into the lead which shrunk to as little as 9 points, but the Penguins held on to notch a comfortable 93-80 road win. 

SG William Swan and C Will O’Neil both scored 16 points and SF Chris Chambliss added 15 while PG Pat White had 8 assists.

[PointGuard 70]

Zip Taken Out of Penguins
By Steve Porter

An hour’s bus ride took the Youngstown State Penguins to Akron to take on the Akron Zips last night. A sizeable rooting section for the Penguins followed.

Even though Coach Durst was forced to play a very deep bench in the first half as his starters got into foul trouble, the Penguins kept close to the Zips until late in the half. Akron pulled away to sport a 43-35 halftime advantage by hitting 57% of their FG attempts. SF Colin Chambliss led YSU offensively with 14 points in the half. But Akron’s PG Hayward Taylor hit 4 of 5 three-point shots and matched Chambliss’ 14 points.

The Penguins chipped away at the lead and got within a single point at 56-55 with 10:18 remaining. While YSU stayed close they couldn’t capture the lead, but with 1:49 on the clock, PG Linehan Murphy was fouled shooting and sunk both free throws to tie the game at 68-68. Akron hit a 3 and then on then stole the ball on the Penguins next two possessions and converted driving layups to open a 7 point lead with 45 seconds remaining. Two more turnovers sealed the Penguins fate and they fell 75-70 dropping their season record to 2-2.

SF Colin Chambliss and C Will O’Neil both scored 22 points for Youngstown State. Akron’s Hayward Taylor finished with 20 points,

“Turning the ball over 19 times, including 4 in the last 90 seconds, makes it difficult to win games,” said Coach KD Durst. “We had our chances and I was hoping momentum had swung our way in the waning minutes of the game. But you’ve gotta give the Zips credit though. After they pulled away late in the first half, they simply refused to yield the lead. Chris (Chambliss) played well throughout the game and even though Will (O’Neil) had severely limited playing time due to foul problems, he poured in a lot of points when he was on the court. Tonight though, we needed a little more back up support from the rest of the team.”

[PointGuard 70]

O’Neil Wins Second Weekly Award
By Steve Porter

The second weekly Freshman of the Week Award was again presented to Youngstown State’s C Will O’Neil. In the two games played by the Penguins this past week, O’Neil scored 38 points while collecting 12 rebounds.

O’Neil said, “Its an honor to get these awards. They’re really the result of the outstanding support provided by my teammates though. As much as I appreciate getting the personal awards, winning games is the most important thing and for that I’m just a cog in the coach’s wheel.”

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Colonials End Up In Penguins Colony
By Steve Porter

With three starters averaging over 15 ppg, Youngstown State’s opponents of last night, the 2-1 George Washington Colonials, presented a unique challenge. “I’ll guess we’ll just see who has the hot hand and try to clamp down on that player,” said Coach KD Durst before the game.

Attacking inside the Penguins took an 10-5 lead in the first 5 minutes of play. They then sunk three 3-pointers to go ahead 19-9. YSU maintained a comfortable lead the rest of the half and went to the locker room ahead 37-25. The Penguins’ defense limited the Colonials to 35% shooting and forced 10 turnovers. C Will O’Neil led Youngstown State’s offense with 10 points. The Penguins limited the 3 staring perimeter players for Duquesne to a total of 27 points, well below their average, and a good portion of those 27 points came during the Dukes’ run in the middle of the 2nd half when YSU had 5 subs on the floor.

Even though George Washington made a couple runs, the Penguins were able to hold them at arms’ length and even expanded their lead to as much as 20 points. YSU then coasted to an easy 71-59 road victory due to a defense that held the FG shooting by the Colonials to just 33%. The win improved their record to 3-2.

C Will O’Neil topped Youngstown State’s scoring with 17 points. PF Aaron Tice recorded a double-double scoring 15 while hauling in 12 boards. SF Colin Chambliss added 10 points while PG Pat White dished out 8 assists and grabbed 7 rebounds. For George Washington, PG Derek Rohwer scored 16 but the Penguins’ held the Colonials’ top scorer, SF Barry Claxton, to just 6 points as he hit just 2 of 13 shots from the field.

“That’s the 4th straight game for us on the road, so it will be good to get back home for out next game against Duquesne,” said Coach Durst. He added, “The team played solidly on both ends of the court today and we got production from both starters and reserves tonight.”

After the Penguins first 5 games, Will O’Neil is their leading scorer averaging 19.0 ppg, Aaron Tice is their top rebounder with 8.4 rpg, and Pat White has the most assists with 7.0 apg.

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Penguins Duke It Out With Dukes
By Steve Porter

Asked about last night’s opponent the Duquesne Dukes before the game, Coach KD Durst replied, “The Dukes are an outside shooting team. All three of their starting perimeter players are averaging in double figures. We need to throttle their outside game.” The Dukes record stood at 3-1 coming into the game.

The Penguins’ inside due of Aaron Tice and Will O’Neil put their team on top 8-0 before two minutes has been played. As YSU continued to score inside, by the middle of the first half, they had increased their lead to 25-12. By hitting 51% of their shots, scoring 34 points in the paint and 14 points on fast breaks, out-rebounding Duquesne 19-15, and holding a 13-4 turnover advantage, the Penguins came out of the first half with a commanding 44-24 lead. PF Aaron Tice scored 16 and grabbed 6 boards and C Will O’Neil dropped in 14 points.

With 15 minutes left in the game, YSU’s lead had ballooned to 60-31. But midway through the second half, Duquesne roared back cutting the lead to 66-50 with an all-substitute Penguins squad on the floor. Youngstown State quickly rebuilt a 20+ point lead and sailed to an 80-59 drubbing of the Dukes the improved their record to 4-2. YSU outshot the Dukes 51% to 37%, controlled the boards 41-26, held a 17-11 turnover advantage, and scored 52 points in the paint. The only team advantage held by Duquesne was that they hit 11 of 24 three pointers compared to the Penguins 3 for 16 shooting from beyond the arc.

PF Aaron Tice led the scoring for the Penguins with 24 points and also grabbed 8 rebounds, C Will O’Nei scored 21 and pulled down 10 boards, and reserve C Kent Jones added 10 points. 

“Coach Durst developed a game plan to exploit the Dukes inside and we were able to make that game plan work,” said Aaron Tice. “We got the crowd behind us early and with the rest of the team working the ball inside, Will, Kent and I were able to drop in a lot of shots. It was a lot of fun out there tonight.”

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Tice Wins Award
By Steve Porter

For the third straight week, one of the Penguins was presented with a weekly award by the Horizon League. This week it was PF Aaron Tice who was named Horizon League Player of the Week. Tice scored 39 points and gobbled up 19 rebounds in the two games played by the Penguins this past week. 

“Aaron put together two great games and against Duquesne, he was simply outstanding. In that game he dropped in 9 of 12 shots from the field and 6 of 7 from the foul line to score 24 points as well as hauling in 8 rebounds. In the earlier game against George Washington he scored 15, but more importantly, had 12 rebounds. This is the 4th year that Aaron has been a very solid player for us inside,” said Coach KD Durst.

Durst added, “Personally I thought Will O’Neil had another two exceptionally strong games that should have garnered him a 3rd straight Freshman of the Week award. He scored 38 points and picked off 17 rebounds in our two games this week.”

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Minimal Recruiting Efforts by Penguins 
By Steve Porter

First assistant coach Brandon Warren said that the Penguins recruiting efforts are continuing but right now are low key. “We have to conserve funds, so most of our effort right now consists of making a lot of phone contact. We aimed high during summer and early autumn but were only able to land one recruit. That leaves us with three more scholarships to fill,” Warren said. 

He added, “There's some very good players still on our list, but we need to let things percolate a bit to see how they perform this season and if we can build interest with limited effort at this point. Some of them have academic records that give us concern as to whether they will get SAT scores that will qualify them to play for us. So that means not doing much beyond keeping in touch with them until SAT scores are available in late January. We also have one very strong international player who has shown interest, but we don’t have the money to make a big play for him. Hopefully our long-distance efforts stimulate enough interest within him by this spring. I don’t anticipate signing anyone else until April anyway.”

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Penguins Rage in Cajun Country
By Steve Porter

Last night Youngstown State traveled to Louisiana to take on the UL Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns, a team led by perimeter scorers, SG William Hyle (20.3 ppg) and SF Bryan Adams (16.4 ppg). The Ragin’ Cajuns came into the game sporting a 4-3 record (with 2 of their losses to Florida and #10 UCLA), and they possessed the 36th highest RPI in the nation.

The Penguins struggled early but with 13 minutes left in the half, took their first lead at 11-10. With Coach Durst shuttling players in and out to try to wear down the Ragin’ Cajuns, YSU went ahead by 6 points at 23-17 with 6-1/2 minutes left in the half. But 90 seconds later the score was tied. The remainder of the half was tight with UL Lafayette escaping with a 37-36 halftime lead. C Will O’Neil led the scoring with 13 points in the half.

In the 2nd half the Penguins gradually established a 9 point lead midway through the half. The refs then decided to get overzealous with the use of their whistles, keeping either team from really employing an offense. Both teams traipsed repeatedly to the foul line. With 2 minutes to play YSU’s lead had shrunk to 72-68. Then with 1 minute on the clock, the Penguins led 75-70. The Ragin’ Cajuns missed a 3 and then had to foul. PG Linehan Murphy made just 1 of 2 leaving the outcome in doubt as UL-Lafayette quickly brought the ball up court. Aaron Tice blocked a 3 point attempt and James Asbury recovered the ball and made a quick outlet pass to Murphy who again was fouled immediately. Murphy again made just 1 of 2 to make it 77-70 but with just 24 seconds on the clock. The Penguins defense kept UL Lafayette from shooting until the last second. The miss left Youngstown State with a 77-70 win. Their record improved to 5-2. The Penguins outshot the Ragin’ Cajuns 50% to 38% which was the difference in the game.

C Will O’Neil dropped in 20 points. SG B.J. Dennis added 15. 

“I feel very happy to escape with a win. Even though we seemingly gained control in the 2nd half, UL Lafayette never gave in and kept things close. Although B.J. and Will scored a high proportion of our points, overall this was a good team effort. Our 4 guards dished out a total of 16 assists and Aaron Tice and Kent Jones pulled down a combined 17 rebounds. Defensively we were able to hold Hyle and Adams, who had been averaging a combined 37 ppg to just 19 point combined and 7 for 27 from the field.” Asked about the refs, Durst replied, “They called the game tightly in the 2nd half when I think they thought the teams were getting overly aggressive, but you have to give them credit for calling it fairly against both sides.”

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O’Neil Gains Another Award
By Steve Porter

Even though the Penguins played just one game this week, C Will O’Neil’s 20 points in their road win over the UL Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns yielded him yet another Horizon League Freshman of the Week Award. 

O’Neil is now averaging 18.6 ppg as well as 6.1 rpg in his first seven Division I collegiate games. He’s hitting 60% of his FG attempts. His only deficiency is that he has dropped in just 51% of his free throw attempts, but he has gone to the foul line more than any other Peguins player and only Aaron Tice has scored more points at the line.

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Home Update

When I was in New York a couple years ago when the Penguins played in the NIT, I met a woman from Queens who was coordinating things for the press. Not only was I attracted by her looks and personality, but her name greatly exceeded the Youngstown one-syllable “rule”. Meredith (3 syllables) Austinweiler (4 syllables) and I corresponded for several months and got together again when she was on a business trip to Ohio. That finally led to her finding a job here and moving in with me. Surprisingly to me, all has gone well thus far. My biggest challenge has been getting her to begin to use Ohio terms. I keep telling her it’s "warsh" not "wash"; we use a sweeper not a vacuum cleaner; the car has a boot not a trunk; rather than the ABC’s it’s the 3 C’s (Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati); there’s really just 3 main stores (Penny’s, Krogers, and Meijers); it’s B-Dub and not Buffalo Wild Wings; The Jake really isn’t a guy; rather than it being "no problem" or "no worries" it’s "you’re fine"; we don’t wear sneakers we wear tennis shoes; you "put that up" rather than "put that away"; and we drink pop rather than soda.

Other than her vocabulary, though, Meredith is quite a gal and the best thing that’s happened to me in years. I’m not sure how long she will put up with me, but hopefully it’s a long, long time.

To top that off, she’s got a top-notch management job here locally and makes a heckuva lot more money that I do. My friends all say they wonder what she sees in me.