| Talented Junior College Trio Sign With Penguins |
| Saturday, April 26 2008 |
| Courtesy of: |
| Youngstown State men's basketball coach Jerry Slocum announced on Friday the National Letter of Intent signing of junior college players Dallas Blocker, Kelvin Bright and DeAndre Mays. All three players will enter the program as juniors this fall after previously competing at the junior college level. Blocker is a 6-9, 225-pound forward from Cloud County Community College, Bright is a 6-3, 180-pound guard from Hagerstown Community College and Mays is a 6-1, 185-pound guard from Hill College. Slocum said all three players bring strong credentials with them to the YSU program. "Dallas brings great size that is needed to our interior play. Kelvin is a great scorer and will add to our offensive game. DeAndre has great leadership, is a great defender and has a strong all-around offensive game at the point guard position," Slocum said. Blocker averaged seven points and five rebounds a game last season at Cloud County. He helped the Thunderbirds to a 21-12 overall mark and an appearance in the Region VI semifinals. As a sophomore he averaged 5.9 points and 3.9 rebounds per game as the T-Birds finished 21-12. In those 33 games he also had 46 steals, 45 assists and 28 blocks. A native of Topeka, Kan., he was a third-team Class 5A selection at Seaman High School as a senior. He was a first-team All-Centennial League pick while earning second-team all-city honors. As a junior, he helped lead Seaman High School to its first state tournament appearance in 23 years. "I loved the atmosphere during my visit to Youngstown State," Blocker said. "The coaches were really good and they are people who will be able to tell me what I need to do to improve my game. They told me my best basketball is ahead of me and I agreed with that." Bright, earned Honorable-Mention NJCAA All-America honors last year at Hagerstown. He ranked sixth in the nation averaging 24.2 points per contest. Bright scored more than 20 points on 21 occasions and had six 30-point performances for the Hawks. He was named the NJCAA Division I National Player of the Week on Jan. 16 following a 38-point performance in a loss to Prince George's CC. A native of Silver Spring, Md., he helped lead Blake High School to the Maryland Class 4A State Championship Game his senior year. As a senior, he averaged 16.2 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.6 steals per game. For his efforts he was named the All-Metro Honorable-Mention Team by the Washington Post. "Coming to Hagerstown this past year I wanted to make sure that I was going to transfer to a place that I would be comfortable with and make a big contribution," Bright said. "I thought YSU was a perfect fit in both of those regards." Mays was a second-team All-North Texas Conference pick last year at Hill College. He averaged 13.1 points and 4.5 assists per game for the Rebels. Included in his total was a triple-double performance against SWCC. He joined the program after spending a season at Navarro Community College. A native of Dallas, Texas, he was a two-time first-team all-district selection at Samuell High School. "The coaching staff was unbelievable," Mays said. "They have a great environment there and the campus was real nice. I know I have a chance to come in and play right away which was a big factor as well." The trio of signees joins Villa-Angela St. Joseph High School guard Ashen Ward, who inked his National Letter of Intent in November. "With these four recruits I'm very excited about where the program is headed," Slocum said. "These are not only solid basketball players, but solid student-athletes as well." |
| Hawks' Bright signs with Youngstown State |
| Thursday, April 17 2008 |
| Courtesy of: http://www.herald-mail.com |
| Hagerstown Community College sophomore Kelvin Bright signed a letter-of-intent to play for Division I program Youngstown State. Bright was the Hawks' leading scorer at 24.2 points per game - sixth nationally - and was an honorable mention on the NJCAA All-American team. ----More to Follow When Officially Announced. ---- |
| Byron Davis Named MVP, Five Players Earn Season Awards |
| Monday, April 14 2008 |
| Courtesy of: |
| Youngstown -- Senior guard Byron Davis was named the Youngstown State Men's Basketball team's 2007-08 Dom Rosselli Most Valuable Player and four other Penguins earned honors for their performances during the season at the program's annual awards banquet on Sunday at the Chestnut Room in the Kilcawley Center. Senior forward John Barber was named the 2007-08 Four Square Club Scholar-Athlete and earned the Leo Mogus Leading Rebounder Award. Senior forward Dwight Holmes was the recipient of the Tony Vivo Hustle Award. Freshman guard Vytas Sulskis was selected as the Penguin Club Most Improved Player and freshman Vance Cooksey earned the Assist Leader Award (2.9 per game) and the Free-Throw Percentage Award (79.7 percent). Davis was the team leader in points scored (465), points per game average (15.5), free throws made (71), field goals made (175), field-goal attempts (388), 3-point attempts (136) minutes played (1,063), double-figure scoring games (23) and 20-point games (seven). He was second on the team steals (33), free-throw attempts (103), 3-pointers made (44) and assists (71). Barber led the team in rebounding grabbing with 210 boards for the season. He averaged 7.0 per contest, which ranked him fourth in the Horizon League. It was the third straight season the Leo Mogus winner grabbed more than 200 total rebounds. Barber was second on the team in scoring 407 points. Holmes was the recipient of the Tony Vivo Hustle Award after recording the best season of his career. Holmes scored 140 points, grabbed 74 rebounds, had 18 assists, 17 blocks and 11 steals on the year. He was 49-of-95 (51.6 percent) from the field and made 41-of-63 free-throw attempts (65.1 percent). Sulskis burst on the scene to have a solid all-around year scoring 270 points while grabbing 131 rebounds to earn Most Improved Player accolades. He finished fourth on the team in scoring and tied for second in rebounding. He led the team with a freshman record 46 3-pointers. He scored the most points by a freshman since Doug Underwood in 2001-02 and had the most rebounds by a frosh since Desmond Harrison and Dave Brown in 1997-98. Cooksey had a solid freshman year to take home the assists and free-throw percentage trophies. He dished out a team-high 88 assists for an average of 2.9 per contest. From the free-throw line he converted 55-of-69 opportunities for a 79.7 percentage. |
| Vytas Sulskis Named CollegeInsider.com Freshmen All-American |
| Tuesday, April 1 2008 |
| Courtesy of: |
| Youngstown State freshman guard Vytas Sulskis was named to the CollegeInsider.com's Freshmen Mid-Major All-America team, the website announced on Tuesday. Sulskis, who was named to the Horizon League's All-Newcomer team, scored 270 points and grabbed 131 rebounds during his first season with the program. He set a freshmen school record by making 46 3-pointers and attempting 121 shots from beyond the arc. His 270 points, were the most by a freshman since Doug Underwood had 290 in 2001-02. His 131 rebounds were the most by a freshman since Desmond Harrison (131) and Dave Brown (214) in 1997-98. He also added 60 assists and 32 steals. A native of Vilnius, Lithuania, he was just the third Penguin to be named the the League's All-Newcomer squad, and the first freshman since YSU joined the conference in 2001-02. In 18 league games he scored 192 points, averaging 10.7 per contest, while grabbing 89 rebounds, an average of 4.9 per game. He was second on the team in rebounds during conference play. Joining Sulskis from the Horizon League on the CollegeInsider.com Freshmen Mid-Major All-America team were Butler's Matt Howard and Green Bay's Rahmon Fletcher. 2008 CollegeInsider.com Freshmen Mid-Major All-America Team Darion Anderson G 6-2 Northern Illinois Nate Blank F 6-5 Gardner Webb Rahmon Fletcher G 6-2 Wisconsin-Green Bay Jay Gavin G 6-3 Marist Devin Gibson G 6-0 Texas-San Antonio Ken Horton F 6-6 Central Connecticut State Matt Howard F 6-8 Butler Charles Jenkins G 6-3 Hofstra Greg Logins F 6-7 Canisius Mark Payne G 6-7 UC Davis Mike Ringgold F 6-7 Rider Larry Sanders F 6-9 VCU Vytas Sulskis G 6-7 Youngstown State Malcolm Thomas F 6-8 Pepperdine Josh White G 5-10 North Texas Marquis Weddle G 6-1 Tennessee-Martin |