The Youngstown State men’s basketball team carries a three-game winning streak into Monday’s contest against Milwaukee at the Beeghly Center. Tipoff is set for 5:35 p.m. and will air live on 570 WKBN. Also the game is available live on ESPN Full Court, will be shown at 10 p.m. on MyYTV and be on Fox 17/62 (following BCS Championship Game).

    Youngstown State (6-7 overall and 2-1 HL) has won three straight games for the first time this season and is looking for its first four-game winning streak since November 2000. Since that time YSU has won three straight games seven times, but has failed to win four in a row. The Guins had to hold off Loyola for their third straight win earning a 71-61 victory at the Beeghly Center on Saturday afternoon. Byron Davis had 19 points and John Barber added 18 to pace four Penguins in double figures. YSU led 42-24 at halftime before Loyola tied the game at 47. Youngstown State was able to regroup and used good free-throw shooting and some timely 3-pointers to earn the victory.

    Milwaukee (7-7 and 2-2) evened its record following a come-from-behind 55-53 win over Detroit on Saturday night. UWM trailed 48-34 before Paige Paulsen’s 3-pointer with two seconds left gave the Panthers a two-point victory. Milwaukee has won a season-best four consecutive games after losing six straight at one point.

    The Penguins won both meetings against the Panthers last year winning at Milwaukee on Dec. 10 (68-65) and that the Beeghly Center on Jan. 13 (81-63). However, Milwaukee owns a 17-4 series advantage. UWM won 17 of the initial 19 meetings in the series.

    YSU continues Horizon League play on Thursday visiting Wright State at 7 p.m..

• This is the 22nd all-time meeting between YSU and Milwaukee. The Penguins have won four times, including all three when they have scored 80-plus points.

• YSU has won six straight home games, including five in the regular season, against Horizon League opponents.

• The Penguins have attempted 142 free throws the past five games (23, 33, 30, 26, 30). In the first eight games, YSU attempted 132 with a high of 20 against Kent State.

• YSU’s last four-game winning streak was from Nov. 18-28, 2000. The Guins beat Saint Francis (Pa.), Slippery Rock, Clarion and Western Michigan.

• Of the seven three-game winning streaks the Guins have had since that point, five were snapped on the road.

• The Penguins are 5-0 this season when shooting better than 46 percent from the field. YSU shot 46.5 percent vs. Loyola on Saturday.

• Senior guard Byron Davis has scored in double figures in a career-best 10 games this year. He had 19 against Loyola.

• Barber has scored in double figures in nine of the last 10 games after finishing with 18 points against Loyola.

• Twice this year YSU has had five players score in double figures (Lock Haven, Robert Morris). Five times YSU has had at least four players reach double digits.

• All 14 players on the roster have scored and have a rebound while 11 have an assist.

• YSU has made at least 10 3-pointers on 10 occasions since Coach Slocum took over.

• YSU has won 14 straight games when leading at halftime. The last time the Guins lost when leading at half was at Canisius on Feb. 18, 2006. YSU was 9-0 when leading at half last year and is 6-0 this season when leading or tied.

• The Guins have won their last 12 games when shooting 50 percent and won their last seven when scoring 80 points.

• Barber will be playing his 100th career game while senior Dwight Holmes will appear in his 93rd game on Monday

• Davis has played in 100 career contests - 57 at New Mexico State and 43 at YSU.

• Head Coach Jerry Slocum is one of just 49 all-division NCAA coaches to earn at least 600 career victories.

    The Panthers are led in scoring by senior guard Paige Paulsen. Paulsen, who is averaging 14.8 points per game, is the only active player to own a double-digit average. UWM owns a four-game winning streak with wins over Central Michigan, Wyoming, Wright State and Detroit.

    Five players scored in double figures led by a 22-point, 11-rebound effort by Quin Humphrey as Youngstown State beat Milwaukee 81-63 at the Beeghly Center on Jan. 13, 2007.

    While Humphrey took game-high scoring honors he had plenty of help in that department. Byron Davis had 17 points, five rebounds and five assists, Keston Roberts had 14 points and seven rebounds, John Barber scored 12 and Jack Liles had 10 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots. Liles had all 10 points in the second half before fouling out.

    As a team, YSU shot 50 percent making 30-of-60 shots for the evening. The Penguins trailed 18-15 before scoring the next 10 points and grabbing the lead for good.

    Youngstown State went on a late 6-0 run and held off a frantic Milwaukee rally to escape with a 68-65 victory on Dec. 10, 2006 at U.S. Cellular Arena.

    Both teams had 12-0 runs in the second half, including the Panthers’ run that put them up 61-60 with 3:02 to play. YSU led 66-64 before losing the ball to UWM on a jump ball. Paige Paulsen missed a potential game-tying free throw with 1.9 seconds left as YSU held on.

    Keston Roberts scored a game-high 21 points while Quin Humphrey scored 14 and Byron Davis added 12.

    Milwaukee leads the all-time series by a 17-4 mark. However, the Guins won both games last year, including an 81-63 decision at the Beeghly Center. UWM won 12 of the first 13 contests and 17 of the first 19 games. YSU has split the last four games at Beeghly with the Panthers.

    Youngstown State used another impressive first-half shooting performance and staved off a furious Loyola comeback for a 71-61 Horizon League victory over the Ramblers on Saturday afternoon at the Beeghly Center.

    Four Penguins reached double figures in scoring led by senior guard Byron Davis’ 19 points and senior forward John Barber’s 18 points. Junior Jack Liles finished with 12 points while freshman Vytas Sulskis added 11.

    Loyola erased an 18-point halftime deficit scoring 23 of the first 28 points of the second half to tie the game at 47 after a jumper by Justin Cerasoli midway through the stanza.

    The Penguins are 5-0 this year when shooting 46 percent or better from the field. In wins over Weber State (55.8 percent), Lock Haven (52), Saint Francis (46.3), UIC (50.0) and Loyola (46.5), YSU shot above 46 percent. The highest shooting percentage in a loss was 42.6 versus Robert Morris while the lowest in a win was 39.1 versus SRU.

    The Penguins have either been on from the line or way off.

In five games, YSU has shot 76.7 percent or better while in three others the Guins shot in the 60s. In five others, Youngstown State has shot 57.7 percent or below, including two contests in the 40s.

    After shooting 85.2 percent (29-of-34) against Kent State and Cleveland State, the Guins shot 56.5 percent, missing 10, in a three-point loss to Robert Morris.

    Guard Byron Davis has scored in double figures 10 times this year and leads the team with two 20-point performances.

Davis scored 20 points against Robert Morris (Dec. 17) and had a career-high 21 at Saint Francis (Nov. 28). He is coming off a 19-point performance vs. Loyola.

    He attempted a career-best 19 shots against RMU. For the year he has attempted double figures in shots 10 times.

His 10 double-figure games have already eclipsed his total of nine from last year.

    This year, Davis has been strong from the free-throw line making 44-of-57 attempts for an 77.2 percent clip. Last year, he made just 35-of-61 attempts, a 57.4 percentage. He was 6-of-6 against Loyola.

    In his career (New Mexico State and YSU) he has scored 780 points, making 99 3-pointers while dishing out 262 assists.

    Senior forward John Barber has scored in double figures in 10 of the past 12 games after tossing in 18 against Loyola. He was coming off a career-high 24-point, 15-rebound effort against UIC last Thursday.

    He had scored in double figures in six straight before the Robert Morris game. His previous career long streak was just two.

    In the past 11 games, he has scored 147 points (13.4 per game) while grabbing 73 rebounds (6.5 per contest). For the year, he has scored 181 points while grabbing a team-high 87 boards. He has had at least five rebounds in 10 games this year.

    For his career, Barber has scored 790 points while grabbing 459 rebounds. He will play his 100th career game on Monday night when YSU plays host to UWM.

    Freshman guard Vytas Sulskis scored a career-best 26 points against UIC on Thursday night and followed that with a 11-point outing against Loyola.

    Against UIC, he was 9-of-13 from the field, 4-of-6 from 3-point range and 4-of-7 from the free-throw line. He also had seven rebounds, two assists and a steal.

    His 26-point effort tied for the third most by a Penguin freshman since 1980. Only Tim Jackson’s 32 and 31 point outings during the 1987-88 season were better than Sulskis’s effort.

    In the past six games he is 15-of-27 (55.6 percent) from 3-point range. Sulskis has made 15 of YSU’s 31 treys in that span. For the year, Sulskis has made 22 3-pointers. The most by a freshman in school history is 31 by Mike Alcorn in 1990-91.

    YSU has shown time-and-time again it is a very strong second-half team. However, a big first half proved to be key in victories over UIC and Loyola.

    Since scoring 60 points in the first half against Lock Haven -- the most in a first half for the program since February 1992, YSU had struggled in the opening 20 minutes.

    In an eight-game stretch, the Guins had totaled 216 points in the first half (27 points a half). In the second half of those eight tilts, YSU has scored 292 points (36.5 points per half).

    YSU erupted for 53 first-half points against UIC and followed that with a 42-point effort versus Loyola. In the second half, the Guins had 27 against UIC and 29 versus Loyola.

    In the first three games of the year, the Guins scored more first-half points (126) than second (90).

    The Penguins have relied on seven players to handle the scoring duties this year. Of the 875 points scored, John Barber, Byron Davis, Jack Liles, Vance Cooksey, Vytas Sulskis, Mel Johnson and Dwight Holmes have contributed 813. Overall, 92.9 percent of YSU’s scoring goes through those seven individuals.

    The Penguins have had nine 30-point individual performances since Coach Jerry Slocum took over the program.

In the previous 13 seasons, the Guins had nine 30-point outings. Last year, Quin Humphrey had three 30-point outings while Keston Roberts had two. The five in one season was the most since 1986-87.

    Guard Vance Cooksey leads the Penguins with 46 assists. Cooksey has had at least three assists in eight contests. He also has scored in double digits against UCLA, Weber State, Notre Dame and Robert Morris.

    His defense has been strong as of late picking up 20 steals the last 11 games.

    Senior forward Dwight Holmes has seen an increased role the past five games. Holmes has played 98 minutes coming off the bench.

    He played a season-high-tying 25 minutes against UIC on Thursday. Against the Flames he scored four points, had three blocks, three steals and grabbed three rebounds.

    He scored a season-best 11 points against Robert Morris on Dec. 17 and had seven points in 22 minutes of action against Slippery Rock.

    Junior forward Jack Liles has provided a strong presence in the post.

    Liles leads the team with a 53.7 field-goal percentage making 58-of-108 shots. For the year, he is averaging 11 points and 5.5 rebounds per contest.

    Liles leads the team with 11 blocked shots and now is tied for fifth in school history with 66 career swats.

    He has scored in double figures in eight games, including six of the last eight.