Pittsburgh, Pa. -- The Youngstown State men's basketball team showed its moxy for 28 minutes, had the game tied at 42-42 midway through the second half, but Pittsburgh outscored the Penguins 30-14 over the last 12 minutes en route to a 72-56 win on Saturday afternoon at the Peterson Events Center.
The Penguins fall to 3-3 while Pittsburg improves to 5-1.
Offensively, the Penguins were led by Kelvin Bright who scored 20 points and DeAndre Mays who added 16. Dallas Blocker was the leading rebounder for the Penguins as he brought down six.
Pitt was led by Ashton Gibbs and Brad Wannamaker who both scored 14.
The Penguins scored the first five points of the second half on a Sirlester Marin jumper and a Vytas Sulskis triple to trim the Panther lead to one, 34-33. The Panthers however rattled off the next six to push their lead to seven, 40-33.
The Penguins held the Panthers to only two free throws over three minutes and clawed there way back to within one after an 8-2 run. Junior Vance Cooksey netted a free throw to tie the game up 42-42 with 12:26 remaining in the game.
From there, the Panthers scored the next 10 points to go ahead 52-42 with 9:29 left but the Penguins cut into deficit by scoring five of the next seven points to cut the lead to seven 54-47 after a Mays three-point play 8:28 to go. However the Penguins would get no closer.
After the Penguins jumped out to a 10-5 lead off a fast break lay-up by Kelvin Bright at the 15:45 mark, the Panthers went on a 21-5 run over the next 5:50 to go up by 11, 26-15. The Penguins got back within single digits on another Bright lay-up to make the score 26-17 with 9:45 remaining in the first.
The Bright lay-up was the start of 13-4 run for the Penguins that lasted 7:46, bringing the Penguins within two, by a score of 30-28. Pitt scored the last four points of the half to go up six, 34-28.
Youngstown State will now enter Horizon League play on the road as they travel to Detroit to take on the Titans on Thursday. Tip-off at Calihan Hall on is set for 7:05 p.m.
Courtesy: YSU Sports Information
