Jan. 31, 2008

Men’s Basketball: Holmes, Barber Score 19 in Buzzer-Beater Defeat at Loyola

    Chicago, Ill. – The Youngstown State men’s basketball team suffered a gut-wrenching 69-68 loss at the Gentile Center on Thursday night when Loyola’s Tracy Robinson drained a 3-pointer as time expired.

    The Penguins took a 67-66 lead with just under 29 seconds left on a pull-up 15-foot jumper by John Barber. Loyola had a chance to regain the lead, but Aric Van Weelden’s 3-pointer from the corner rimmed out and the ball caromed out of bounds in possession of YSU.

    On the in-bounds pass, the Guins were able to take five seconds off the clock before a foul by Andy Polka put senior Byron Davis at the free-throw line in a one-and-one situation.

    Davis made the first foul shot, but his second rimmed out and Van Weelden grabbed the ball. YSU put some deep pressure on Loyola, but J.R. Blount pushed the ball quickly up the floor.

    The Penguins, leading 68-66, cut Blount’s lane to the basket off, but somehow he passed the ball to Robinson who beat the buzzer by swishing a 3-pointer to win the game.

    Barber finished with his fourth double-double of the season scoring 19 points while grabbing 11 rebounds. Senior Dwight Holmes had the best game of his career scoring 19 points. Holmes was 7-of-9 from the field and 5-of-5 from the free-throw line.

    The contest featured 22 lead changes and four ties, 18 lead changes and three ties came in the second half.

    For the game, YSU shot 57.1 percent making 28-of-49 attempts while going 8-of-10 from the free-throw line. The Ramblers made 29-of-66 attempts for a percentage of 43.9. They were 6-of-7 from the foul line.

    With the loss, the Penguins fall to 7-14 overall and 3-8 in the Horizon League while Loyola is now 8-13 and 4-7. YSU has dropped five straight contests while the Ramblers have now won two in a row.

    Robinson’s triple tied him with Blount for team-high scoring honors at 16 each. Davis scored 14 points while Vance Cooksey had 11 in a losing effort.

    YSU’s biggest lead of the contest was eight, which came in the first in the first five minutes, while Loyola led by six in the second half. The Guins had an outstanding second half shooting 60.7 percent (17-of-28) and committing just four turnovers after 13 first-half giveaways.

    The Penguins will try to regroup quickly by staying in Chicago to play at UIC on Saturday night. Tipoff at the UIC Pavilion against the Flames is set for 8 p.m. Eastern time.