YSU, which ends the regular season next Saturday against Cleveland State, is bidding to pick up its first consecutive wins since early January when it won three straight.

• This is the 24th all-time meeting and the 13th in Buffalo between the programs. YSU has lost its last seven games at UB.

• YSU is 2-2 in BracketBusters created games. The Guins have lost at Bowling Green and at Canisius, but have defeated Eastern Michigan and Eastern Kentucky at home.

• YSU’s last road win in February was a 75-69 win at UMKC on Feb. 17, 2001. The Guins have lost 25 straight contests on the road in February since that time.

• In the past eight games, the Guins have shot at least 57 percent (three times) or below 39 (five times).

• YSU tied its season high by drilling 11 3-pointers against Green Bay. The Guins also had 11 treys at Notre Dame and at Detroit.

• The 76 points against Green Bay were the most in a game since scoring 80 against UIC on Jan. 3.

• YSU is 6-2 when making at least seven 3-pointers in a game.

• YSU has won 15 of its last 17 games when leading at halftime. However, of those 17 the last two have been losses (Valpo and at Green Bay).

• The Guins are 13-2 the last 14 games when shooting at least 50 percent and have won their last seven when scoring 80 points.

• YSU has made at least 10 3-pointers on 12 occasions under Coach Slocum.

• Senior guard Byron Davis has scored double figures in a career-best 21 games. Davis tied his career high of 23 on Wednesday against Green Bay.

• Senior forward John Barber has scored in double figures 20 times this season. He had 23 career double-figure point games entering the year. He is 30 points shy of scoring 1,000 for his career.

• Freshman Vytas Sulskis has scored 246 points this year, which is the most by a Guins frosh since Doug Underwood in 290 in 2001-02. Sulskis had 20 against UWGB.

• Twice this year YSU has had five players score in double figures in the same game (Lock Haven, Robert Morris).

• Barber will be playing his school-record-yting 114th career game on Saturday while senior Dwight Holmes will appear in his 109th contest.

• Davis has played in 114 career contests - 57 at New Mexico State and 56 at YSU.

    Buffalo has dropped three straight home games since beating Eastern Michigan on Feb. 10. During the past three contests, the Bulls’ opponents have shot over 50 percent while they have shot under 40 percent. UB is 4-0 against non-conference foes at home this season with wins over South Florida, Canisius, Tulane and Evansville. Of the Bulls’ last 13 losses, 10 have come by 10 points or less and three were in overtime.

    Youngstown State suffered an 86-66 loss at Buffalo on Dec. 6, 2003 the last time the two programs played.

    YSU’s Adam Baumann and Doug Underwood scored 14 points each, but five Bulls scored in double figures led by Mario Jordan’s 16. Buffalo took control of the game with an impressive first half and was never threatened in the second.

    The Penguins started the game quickly taking a 6-3 lead, but Buffalo, which shot 53.1 percent in the opening stanza, went on a 16-2 run to take control of the game. During that stretch, YSU tied the game 8-8, but 11 straight Bulls points gave them control.

    Buffalo ended the half on a 13-4 run to build a 47-24 advantage at the break. Overall, UB ended the half on a 44-18 spurt.

    For the game, YSU shot 41.5 percent (22-of-53) while Buffalo finished at 49.2 percent (30-of-61).

    This is the third opponent from the Mid-American Conference the Guins have been paired with during their BracketBusters tenure. YSU has played at Bowling Green (76-64 loss on Feb. 21, 2004) and hosted Eastern Michigan (74-60 win on Feb. 19, 2005). The Guins have played at Canisius (75-68 loss on Feb. 18, 2006) and hosted Eastern Kentucky (72-57 win on Feb. 22, 2007).

    Of the previous 23 meetings, the Guins are 12-3 when scoring 65 points against the Bulls. The only YSU win in the series when being held under 65 points was a 59-56 victory at UB in December 1979. Buffalo has won seven of the last nine meetings.

    Youngstown State connected on 11 3-pointers, including seven in a decisive second half, to beat Green Bay 76-73 on Wednesday night at the Beeghly Center.

    The Penguins converted 7-of-8 3-point attempts in the second half and shot at a 64.7 percent (11-of-17) clip from behind the arc for the game. YSU shot 55.1 percent (27-of-49) from the field.

    YSU led 76-73 when UWGB’s Mike Schachtner missed a 3-point attempt. The Phoenix grabbed the offensive rebound and Ryan Tillema missed another game-tying 3-pointer with seven seconds left and Dwight Holmes grabbed the rebound. With 3.4 seconds left, Holmes missed both free throws. Green Bay pushed the ball quickly up the court but was unable to get a desperation shot off before the buzzer.

    Guard Byron Davis has scored in double figures 21 times while scoring 20-or-more points on six occasions. He had nine double-figure scoring games last year.

    Davis tied his career high by scoring 23 points against Green Bay on Wednesday. Against the Phoenix he was 8-of-14 from the field making three 3-pointers.

    In the past three games, Davis is 25-of-40 (62.5 percent) from the field and 7-of-13 from behind the 3-point arc.

    He previous scored 23 points against Valparaiso on Jan. 17. On Jan. 24, he finished with 22 at Milwaukee. He had 21 points at Saint Francis (Nov. 28) and 20 against Robert Morris (Dec. 17). Last Thursday he scored 20 points at Butler.

    In his career (New Mexico State and YSU) he has scored 955 points, making 124 3-pointers while dishing out 289 assists.

    Freshman guard Vance Cooksey leads the team with 73 assists and 33 steals. Cooksey was back in the starting lineup on Wednesday against Green Bay. He had started 16 of the first 17 games of the season before coming off the bench for nine straight.

    Cooksey has scored in double figures seven times this year after his 15-point effort at ninth-ranked Butler last week.

    Senior forward John Barber has scored double figures in 20 games. Barber is coming off a 19-point outing against Green Bay on Wednesday night.

    He has been rather sporadic his previous eight contests. Barber has scored 19 or more three times while scoring 10-or-less on five occasions, including a two and one-point performance. He is 30 points shy of recording 1,000 for his career.

    He leads the team with five double-doubles and has nine in his career.

    In the past 25 games, he has scored 327 points (13.1 per game) while grabbing 172 rebounds (6.9 per contest). He has grabbed at least five rebounds in 22 games.

    For his career, Barber has scored 970 points while grabbing 558 rebounds.

    Junior guard Mikko Niemi had started nine straight games at the point guard spot for the Penguins before coming off the bench versus Green Bay.

    Niemi has made four of his seven 3-pointers in the last seven games. Of his eight field goals, seven are from behind the 3-point arc. YSU is 4-2 in games he makes a 3-pointer. Also, he is a 6-of-7 from the free-throw line in non-league games.

    Freshman guard Vytas Sulskis has set a freshman school records by making 41 3-pointers and attempting 109 this season. The previous most makes were 31 by Mike Alcorn in 1990-91. The previous high for attempts was established by Doug Underwood (104) during the 2001-02 slate.

Sulskis is 41-of-109 from 3-point range for a team-high 37.6 percent conversion rate.

    Sulskis has scored in double figures 11 times this season, including a career-best 26 points against UIC on Jan. 3. He scored 20 - all in the first half on Wednesday in the 76-73 victory over Green Bay. He made a career-high-tying four 3-pointers against the Phoenix.

    His effort against the Flames tied for the third most by a Penguin freshman since 1980.

    Junior forward Jack Liles continues to provide a strong presence in the post.

    Liles, who was in the starting lineup on Wednesday, is shooting 54.5 percent from the field. He has made 108-of-198 shots from the field.

    He has scored in double figures 15 times this season after having 14 double-figure scoring games in his previous two years.

    Liles leads the team with 21 blocked shots and ranks fourth in school history with 76 career swats.

    Senior forward Dwight Holmes grabbed a season-high six rebounds in the win over Green Bay on Wednesday. It was his most since hauling in 11 at Duquesne last season and the second most of his career.

    On Jan. 31 at Loyola he scored a career-best 19 points at Loyola on Jan. 31. Holmes, whose previous career high was 12 at Duquesne on Nov. 13, 2007, was 7-of-9 from the field and 5-of-5 from the free-throw line. He also played a career-best 32 minutes.

    Holmes has played 355 minutes in the last 19 games, scoring 102 points. In the past 10 contests he has hauled in 31 of his 62 rebounds.

    Junior guard Mel Johnson is the Penguins’ version of Vinnie Johnson. Coming off the bench in every game this season, Johnson has scored 93 points, grabbed 59 rebounds, has 29 assists, 27 steals and 11 blocks. Against Green Bay, Johnson’s 12th 3-pointer of the year gave the Guins a 72-68 lead with just over two minutes left.

    YSU has shown spurts of playing well during different halves this season.

    In the first three games of the season, the Penguins had 126 first-half points compared to just 90 second-half points, including a 60-point effort against Lock Haven, the most since February 1992.

    In an eight-game stretch (Nov. 24-Dec. 29), the Guins totaled 216 points in the first half and 292 in the second half.

From Jan. 3-12 (five games) YSU had scored 187 points (37.4) in the first half and 128 (25.6) in the second. In the most recent 11 games, YSU has scored 303 points (27.5 per game) in the first half and 403 (36.6 per game) in the second stanza.

    The Penguins have relied on seven players to handle the scoring duties this year. Of the 1,745 points scored, John Barber, Byron Davis, Jack Liles, Vance Cooksey, Vytas Sulskis, Mel Johnson and Dwight Holmes have contributed 1,655. Overall, 94.8 percent of YSU’s scoring goes through those seven.

    The Guins have had nine 30-point individual performances since Coach Slocum took over the program. In the previous 13 seasons, YSU had nine 30-point games. Last year, Quin Humphrey had three contests while Keston Roberts had two.