| Guins Set to Play Loyola Again As Postseason Begins |
| Tuesday, February 28 2006 |
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| The Youngstown State men’s basketball team plays Loyola for the second straight time, however, this meeting takes place in the first round of the Horizon League Tournament. The Penguins take on the Ramblers at 8 p.m. Eastern Time at the Gentile Center on Tuesday. The winner advances to the quarterfinals on Friday in Milwaukee, Wis., to play either Cleveland State or Detroit. The Penguins (7-20) are the ninth seed following a tough 87-84 overtime loss to the Ramblers on Saturday. YSU trailed 32-8 in the first half only to hold a three-point lead late in the game. However, Loyola forced overtime with a late 3-pointer and outscored the Guins 16-13 in the extra session. Domonique Crawford scored 37 points, the most by a Penguin since February 1993 and most by a player in the league this season. Loyola (17-10) is the fourth seed following Saturday’s win. Blake Schilb scored 29 points, including a 7-of-11 performance from behind the 3-point line. As a team, Loyola was 32-of-42 from the free-throw line, including 11-of-13 in overtime. This marks the second straight season the programs will meet in the first round of the postseason. Last year, the Ramblers beat the Guins 78-75 at the Gentile Center. Storylines and Sidebars... • YSU has lost three straight Horizon League Tournament games. Since joining the league, the Penguins are 1-4 in the postseason. • Quin Humphrey led the league in points and rebounds while Derrick Harris took home the crown in assists. • In both games against the Ramblers this season, YSU has had someone score at least 30 points, Quin Humphrey (32) and Domonique Crawford (37). • Crawford’s 37-point outing on Saturday were the most by a Penguin since Reggie Kemp’s 43 against Wright State on Feb. 6, 1993. • YSU has scored at least 70 points in six of the past seven games against Loyola. • Humphrey has scored 516 points becoming the first Penguin to have back-to-back 400-plus point seasons since Reggie Kemp in 1989-90 and 1990-91. • His 516 points are the most in a season since Kemp had 589 in 1990-91. • Humphrey went over the 1,000-point mark for a career against UW-Milwaukee on Feb. 9. Currently he has scored 1,102 points, ranking 20th in school history. • Humphrey has 10 double-doubles on the year, (23 points, 10 rebounds vs. Loyola) the most since Jerome Sims had 16 in 1991-92. • His 10 double-doubles lead the HL. • Harris will be playing in the 104th game of his career against Loyola. • Harris’ 145 assists this year are the most since Ryan Patton had 163 in 2000-01. • Keston Roberts, Humphrey, Harris and Crawford combined to score 842 of YSU’s 1,085 points in league play (77.6 percent). • Humphrey has scored in double figures in 50 of the past 54 games, including 25 of 26 this season. Scouting Loyola Loyola has won three straight and four of its last five after beating the Penguins 87-84 in overtime on Saturday night. Blake Schilb leads the way offensively for the Ramblers averaging 19.1 points per game this season. Schilb had 29 against YSU as he made seven 3-pointers. He has led the team in scoring in seven of the last eight games. He has scored 20-or-more in five of those contests. The Ramblers have won an impressive 17 games this season, posting just their second 17-win season since the 1984-85 campaign (2001-02 was the other). The All-Time Series The series is tied a seven wins each following Saturday night’s Loyola victory. The team’s split their meetings this season with the road team winning each time. YSU had three straight at home over the Ramblers while Loyola had won five straight at home over the Penguins before this year. This Season’s Meetings The road team has won each meeting this season. On Jan. 2, the Penguins beat the Ramblers 84-76 at the Gentile Center while this past Saturday, Loyola earned an 87-84 overtime win at the Beeghly Center. In Chicago, Quin Humphrey poured in 32 points to help lead the Penguins to victory. The Penguins never trailed against the Ramblers, but things got tight midway through the second half. Loyola went on an 11-2 run to pull within 52-50 at the 11:30 mark, but Youngstown State responded with a 12-2 run and was never threatened again. Domonique Crawford scored 19 points and grabbed six rebounds off the bench. The Penguins shot out of the gate at the start of the game. YSU jumped out to a 22-8 lead eight minutes into the contest. On Saturday, Loyola raced out to a 32-8 advantage before Youngstown State was able to rally and get within 38-36 at halftime behind 19 points by Crawford. YSU held a 71-68 lead late but Blake Schilb drilled a 3-pointer with 2.2 seconds left to force overtime. The Penguins scored the first five points of the overtime before Loyola scored 12 of the next 14 points and grabbed control of the game. Crawford finished with 37 points while Humphrey finished with 23. Last Year’s Postseason Game Trailing by 16 points with just over four minutes remaining in the game, Youngstown State put on a frantic last-moment comeback, but fell just short losing 78-75 to Loyola at the Gentile Center in the first round of the Horizon League Tournament. The Ramblers were cruising in the second half, before the Penguins’ comeback bid started. Behind 72-56 with 4:48 remaining, YSU reeled off nine straight points getting within 72-65 at the 1:33 mark. Both teams traded two made free throws before Harris converted from 3-pointer range again to get YSU within 74-70 with 29 seconds to go. Loyola’s Anthony Smith made one of two free throws with 22.2 seconds left to increase the lead to 75-70. Mends then made two foul shots with 16 seconds remaining cutting the deficit to 75-72. The Ramblers then made one of four throws, but following a YSU turnover, Blake Schlib’s dunk with 7.8 seconds left boosted the advantage to 78-72. Zach Silverman drilled a 3-pointer with 2.2 seconds left as YSU closed within three again. After a Loyola timeout, the Ramblers were able to inbound the ball and run out the clock. For the game Quin Humphrey led the Penguins with 22 points. John Barber scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while Radakovich had 14 in his final collegiate game. Moving Up Quin Humphrey became the 30th player in Youngstown State history to score more than 1,000 points in a career when he eclipsed the mark on Feb. 9 at UW-Milwaukee. After a 23-point effort against Loyola, his 1,102 points ranks 20th in school history. He has shown steady improvement in his career. As a freshman he had 183 points, as a sophomore he scored 402 and this year he has 516. Going The Distance Derrick Harris, Domonique Crawford, Keston Roberts and Quin Humphrey have each played every minute of a game this season. Harris has played an entire game on eight occasions. Humphrey has done it six times, all of which have come in the last 11 games. Roberts has done it twice this year while Crawford went the entire 45 minutes (along with Humphrey) versus Loyola on Saturday. Humphrey Has Double Vision Quin Humphrey has 10 double-doubles this season, the most since Jerome Sims had an impressive 16 in 1991-92. In his last outing, Humphrey had 23 points and 10 rebounds against Loyola on Saturday. He has scored in double figures 26 times this year and had double figures in rebounds on 11 occasions. In his 82-game career, he has scored in double figures 55 times. In his last 55 games, he has scored in double figures 51 times. Humphrey Likes Loyola Something about Loyola gets Quin Humphrey fired up. In his past five games against the Ramblers, Humphrey has scored 123 points, including 55 this season. In the two games this year, Domonique Crawford has stepped up scoring 56 points (37 and 19). Throwing It Up From Three YSU has made 182 treys while attempting 555. The makes are the third most in school history while the attempts are second, just two shy of the school mark. Twice this year YSU has made 11 3-pointers in a game (Detroit and Slippery Rock). The Guins have attempted 20-or-more 3-pointers on 14 occasions and at least 17 in 20 contests. Also, they have made at least seven 11 times. YSU has attempted 165 treys the last six games, and has made 52. Harris Over 100 Games Senior guard Derrick Harris played his 100th career game on Feb. 15 against Detroit. Harris has set career highs with 228 points, 145 assists and 95 rebounds this season. He had 191 points, 77 rebounds and 44 assists last year, which were his previous bests. In 14 games, Harris has committed two turnovers or less. He has found his stroke from the field recently scoring double figures in six of the previous eight games. Four Guards Do The Scoring YSU’s guards Derrick Harris, Quin Humphrey, Domonique Crawford and Keston Roberts scored 846 of the Penguins’ points in Horizon League play. Overall, YSU has scored 1,085 points, which means over 77 percent of the scoring goes through those four players. For the year, the players have combined for 1,409 points of a possible 1,847. On Saturday against Loyola, the group had 72 of YSU’s 84. Including ties, Humphrey has led the team in scoring 15 times, Roberts 10 time, Crawford twice and Harris once. Stat Races Go to Guins Quin Humphrey and Derrick Harris took three of the league’s individual stat titles. Humphrey became just the third player since the conference was formed in 1979-80 to lead in scoring and rebounding in the same year during the conference slate. He joins Loyola’s Javan Goodman (1998-99) and Loyola’s Wayne Sappleton (1981-82) to lead in both during conference play. Harris took the league assist title by one over UWGB’s Ryan Evanochko. Harris had 79 total assists to Evanochko’s 78. |
| Quin Humphrey, Derrick Harris Take League Individual Stat |
| Sunday, February 26 2006 |
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| Youngstown – Following the completion of the 16-game Horizon League regular-season campaign, junior guard Quin Humphrey became just the third player in conference history to be the individual leader in scoring and rebounding in the same season. YSU picked up another individual league statistical title as senior guard Derrick Harris earned the assist crown. In league action, Humphrey scored 323 points and grabbed 133 rebounds. He became the first individual since Loyola’s Javan Goodman in 1998-99 to lead in both categories during the conference slate. The only other player to lead the MCC or the Horizon League in both during the same season was Loyola’s Wayne Sappleton in 1981-82. The races for both Humphrey and Harris went down to the final day. Humphrey needed all of his 23 points in an 87-84 overtime loss to Loyola to secure the scoring title. He averaged 20.2 points per contest just ahead of the Ramblers’ Blake Schilb who finished with 319 points for an average of 19.9 per game. The rebounding race went Humphrey’s way as he averaged 8.3 during league action. He had 10 on Saturday to overtake Detroit’s Torvoris Baker who finished the year with 128 boards, an average of 8.0 a contest. Harris battled through foul trouble to have just two assists on Saturday night. His performance was just enough to nip UW-Green Bay’s Ryan Evanochko by a 79-78 margin. Harris finished with an average of 4.94 while Evanochko had an average of 4.88. The only previous time a YSU player led the league in a category was Marlon Williamson in 2003-04 who had the lead in steals. The overall statistical races include all postseason games. Humphrey is currently one point behind Schilb (517-516) as both are averaging 19.1 points per game. Humphrey has 227 rebounds for an average of 8.4 a contest. He holds a 0.7 lead over Baker. Harris has 145 assists in 27 games for an average of 5.37 per game. Evanochko is second averaging 4.97 a game. The Penguins will return to action on Thursday in the first round of the Horizon League Tournament at Loyola. Tipoff at the Gentile Center has been set for 8 p.m. Eastern Time following the Cleveland State versus Loyola women’s game that will be played earlier in the evening. The winner of the YSU-Loyola contest will meet the winner of the Cleveland State-Detroit game on Friday in Milwaukee. |
| Crawford's 37-Point Night Not Enough in Overtime Loss |
| Saturday, February 25 2006 |
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| Youngstown – Domonique Crawford had a Senior Night that no one will forget, but the Youngstown State men's basketball team, who overcame a 24-point first-half deficit, could not hold a four-point lead in regulation and a five-point advantage in overtime losing to Loyola 87-84 on Saturday night at the Beeghly Center. Crawford scored a league-season high and had the most points by a Penguin in 13 years finishing with 37 in a losing effort. YSU, which finished the regular season 7-20 overall and 4-12 in the Horizon League, will get a quick chance for redemption playing at Loyola in the first round of the conference tournament on Tuesday night. For the contest, Crawford was 12-of-20 from the field, including 6-of-8 3-pointers and was 7-of-8 from the free-throw line. He had 19 points in the first half, 14 in the second and four in the overtime period. The night didn't start well for the Penguins. Loyola raced out to a 32-8 lead just under 10 minutes into the game. YSU closed the half with a major 28-6 run, including scoring 16 straight during one stretch, to cut the deficit to 38-36 at the break. In the second half, YSU finally grabbed a lead at 57-55 on a Crawford trey. The Penguins were able to boost the advantage to four on another Crawford triple with 7:03 remaining in the game. From that point both teams battled back and forth as Loyola tied the contest at 66 on a Tracy Robinson free throw with four minutes left. Keston Roberts answered with a jumper and Crawford added a free throw to give the Guins a three-point advantage. Blake Schilb cut the deficit to one by making two free throws. Freshman Mikko Niemi hit two clutch free throws with 16 seconds to give YSU a 71-68 lead. But Loyola was able to force overtime after Chris Logan missed a 3-pointer, but Robinson grabbed the rebound and whipped a pass to Schilb who drained a trey with 2.2 seconds remaining. YSU scored the first five points of overtime, but Loyola eventually tied the game at 78 on two Schilb free throws after an intentional foul by John Barber. Schilb converted a five-point play when he drilled 3-pointer seven seconds later. After that basket, the Penguins could not get within three points the rest of the night. Humphrey finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds for his 10th double-double of the year. Schilb had 29 and Leon Young had 23 to pace the Ramblers. Loyola improves to 17-10 overall and 8-8 in the Horizon League. On Tuesday, the Ramblers will be the fourth seed and host the Penguins, the league's ninth seed at the Gentile Center in Chicago. |
| Penguins Fight Back, But Fall to Butler, 72-64 |
| Wednesday, February 22 2006 |
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| Indianapolis, Ind. -- Trailing by 21 in the second half, the Youngstown State men's basketball team put up a frantic fight against Butler to pull within two points twice, but the Bulldogs were able to hang on to beat the Penguins 72-64 on Wednesday night at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Leading the charge was junior guard Quin Humphrey who scored a game-high 29 points, 24 of which came in the second half. Humphrey's 3-point play brought YSU within 58-56 with 5:00 left in the game. After Butler's A.J. Graves answered with a 3-pointer, Humphrey came right back to get the Guins within two again at 61-59 with 4:26 remaining. However, Butler scored six of the next seven points to boost their advantage to 67-60 at the 2:19 mark. A Derrick Harris one-hander in the lane cut the deficit to 67-62 with one minute left, but that was as close as YSU could get the remainder of the contest. For the game, Humphrey was 10-of-16 from the field and 6-of-8 from the free-throw line. He grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the campaign. Harris finished with 13 and Domonique Crawford, who made his first start of the season, had 10 points. Butler was led by Brandon Polk who finished with night with 24 points. Overall four Bulldogs finished in double figures. The Bulldogs are now a half-game behind UW-Milwaukee in the race for the Horizon League championship. Butler improves to 18-10 overall and 11-4 in the Horizon League with the victory while YSU is now 7-19 overall and 4-11 in the conference. YSU regrouped impressively in the second half after a rough showing in the first half. The Penguins made 7-of-18 shots (38.9 percent) in the first stanza, while shooting 56.7 percent (17-of-30) in the final half. For the game, the Penguins shot 50 percent (24-of-48). The Penguins close out the regular season on Saturday night when they play host to Loyola. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. |
| YSU Squanders Lead in 75-68 Loss at Canisius |
| Sunday, February 19 2006 |
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| Buffalo, N.Y. – The Youngstown State basketball team held an 11-point lead early in the second half, but Canisius shot a blistering 76.9-percent from the field in the final 20 minutes to come from behind and beat the Penguins 75-68 on Saturday afternoon at the Koessler Athletic Center. YSU led 42-31 with 16:58 remaining in the game, but from that point the Golden Griffins went on a 24-6 run over the next seven-plus minutes and never trailed again after grabbing a 50-48 lead with 11:04 left. Despite falling behind by seven on two occasions, the Penguins were able to cut the deficit to one at 59-58 on two Derrick Harris free throws with 4:53 left. That was the closest Youngstown State could get the remainder of the contest. YSU stayed in the game trailing 67-64 with 1:35 left and by just 70-68 with 31.7 seconds left after a Keston Roberts four-point play. But Downey answered with a breakaway layup and converted a free throw to push the lead back up to five. In the second half, Canisius made 20-of-26 shots for the 76.9-percent performance. YSU made just 13-of-33 attempts from the field and was 5-of-18 from 3-point range. The Griffs’ Kevin Downey came alive in the second half scoring 23 of his game-high 27 points. During one stretch in the second half, Downey scored eight straight points and 14 of the Golden Griffins’ next 16. Keston Roberts led the Penguins with 19 points while going 5-of-8 from behind the 3-point line. Harris had his second double-double of the season with 10 points and a career-high-tying 12 assists. Quin Humphrey also finished with 10 points as YSU dropped to 7-18 on the season. The game started out extremely well as Youngstown State scored the first 13 points making its first five shots. A Jack Liles dunk opened the game, then Humphrey hit a three, Liles added another basket and Roberts drilled two consecutive treys for the 13-point bulge. Canisius came right back to score the next 12 points, but the Penguins worked the lead up to 33-25 at halftime. The Golden Griffins shot just 37.5 percent in first stanza and were 0-of-10 from 3-point range. Youngstown State returns to Horizon League action on Wednesday night when the Penguins travel to Butler. |
| Second-Half Shooting Woes Doom Penguins in 65-54 Loss to Detroit |
| Thursday, February 16 2006 |
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| Youngstown -- Detroit's Brandon Cotton scored a game-high 22 points and the Titan defense held Youngstown State to a 23 percent shooting percentage in the second half in a 65-54 win Wednesday night at the Beeghly Center. The Titans (13-14, 7-7 Horizon League) countered with a 52-percent effort for the game and held a 32-12 advantage in the paint. Quin Humphrey led the Penguins (7-17, 4-10) with 17 points and five rebounds, and Derrick Harris scored all of his 14 points in the first half. Chuck Bailey added 16 points for Detroit while Torvoris Baker had 12 rebounds to help the Titans achieve a 41-27 edge. The Titans scored the first seven points of the second half to go up 10 at 42-32, but YSU went on a 10-2 run to cut the margin to two at 44-42 at the 10:56 mark. The Penguins couldn't get any closer the rest of the way as Detroit scored on its next three possessions to go up 50-42. A 3 by Humphrey at the 4:51 mark trimmed the lead to four at 52-48, but Cotton hit a jumper with the shot clock at zero and a 3 to put the Titans up nine with 3:26 to go. YSU made one last push as Keston Roberts hit a 3 with 2:26 remaining to cut the margin to five, but Detroit scored the next seven points to go up 12 with 29 seconds remaining. After Roberts hit a 3 to open the game, Detroit went on a 14-4 run that included seven straight points to take its largest lead of the half at 14-7 with 14:07 to go. YSU battled back to tie the score at 17 after a Humphrey dunk to cap a 6-0 run with 10:08 to go. The Titans went back up by six three different times before two Harris charity tosses made the score 35-32 at the break. The Penguins will travel to Buffalo, N.Y., to take on Canisius on Saturday at 2 p.m. |
| Humphrey Gets 1,000th Point in Loss to UW-Milwaukee |
| Friday, February 10 2006 |
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| Milwaukee, Wis. -- Junior guard Quin Humphrey scored his 1,000th-career point, but the Youngstown State men’s basketball team ran into a league-leading UW-Milwaukee team that played its best game of the year as the Penguins suffered a 98-57 loss to the Panthers at U.S. Cellular Arena on Thursday night. Humphrey’s 1,000th point came on a bucket at the 17:48 mark of the second half, but it wasn’t even close to enough for YSU, which dropped to 7-15 overall and 4-8 in the Horizon League. The Panthers improved to 17-6 and 10-3. With YSU trailing 22-18 following a 3-pointer by Keston Roberts at the 9:54 mark of the first half, the Panthers went on a tear and never looked back. A four-point deficit turned into a 22-point deficit in just over four minutes as UWM went on a 22-4 spurt. At halftime, YSU trailed 42-28 as the Panthers shot a sizzling 62.9 percent from the field making 22-of-35 shots. The Penguins shot 34.4 percent in the opening 20 minutes. Derrick Harris scored a team and season-high 15 points to lead the way for YSU, while Humphrey finished with 11 points. It was the third straight game in which Harris finished in double figures. Joah Tucker, Adrian Tigert and Boo Davis each scored 16 points for the Panthers as 15 different UWM players scored. For the game, UWM shot 42-of-74 shots from the field for a 56.8 percentage. YSU shot 32.8 percent for the contest and was outrebounded 47-28. YSU concludes their Wisconsin road trip with a contest at UW-Green Bay on Saturday night. Tipoff for the game is set for 8:35 p.m. Eastern Time. |
| Penguins Can't Get Over Hump Losing to UIC, 70-63 |
| Friday, February 3 2006 |
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| Youngstown – The Youngstown State men's basketball team tied the contest five times, but was never able to grab the lead and UIC was able to pull out a 70-63 victory over the Penguins at the Beeghly Center on Thursday night. The contest was tied at 60 on a dunk by Domonique Crawford with 5:28 remaining. But the Flames scored six straight points while holding the Penguins scoreless until the 1:03 mark of the game to regain control. YSU (7-14 overall and 4-7 in the Horizon League) cut the deficit to 66-63 on a 3-pointer by Quin Humphrey with 1:02 left. After UIC's Josh Mayo made two free throws with 37 seconds left, Keston Roberts missed a 3-pointer and Othyus Jeffers snared the rebound. Jeffers missed his two free-throw attempts, but the Penguins couldn't capitalize as Derrick Harris missed a wild shot that turned into a fast-break dunk for Justin Bowen as the Flames scored 10 of the contest's final 13 points. For the game, UIC shot 50 percent from the field making 26-of-52 shots. The Penguins were 23-of-51, including a 10-of-28 night from behind the 3-point arc. The Flames outrebounded YSU 36-23. The win helped UIC, which has now won three of its last four games, improve to 11-12 overall and 4-7 in the Horizon League. YSU and UIC are now tied for eighth in the Horizon League standings with five games to go for both schools. The Flames hold the tiebreaker over the Guins having defeated them both times this season. Loyola and Cleveland State are just a half-game ahead of YSU and UIC in the standings. Roberts scored a team-high 17 points to lead four Guins in double figures. Harris finished with 13, Humphrey had 12 and Crawford finished with 10. Humphrey scored all 12 of his points in the second half. UIC's Danijel Zoric had a career-best 19 points going 6-of-11 from the field and 7-of-9 from the free-throw line. Justin Bowen finished with 15 points, Jovan Stefanov had 13 -- all in the first half -- and Josh Mayo had 10. Youngstown State returns to action next Thursday when the Penguins travel to league-leader UW-Milwaukee. |