The Youngstown State men’s basketball team tries for consecutive victories for the first time since early January when the Penguins play host to Wright State on Saturday night. Tipoff is set for 7:05 p.m. following the women’s game against Milwaukee. The games will be carried live in Youngstown on 570 WKBN and tape delay on Fox 17/62 and MyYTV.

    Youngstown State (8-15 overall and 4-9 in the Horizon League) snapped a six-game losing streak by beating Detroit 55-48 on Thursday night. Byron Davis scored 13 points while John Barber had 10 points and 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season. The Penguins played solid defense holding the Titans to just 28.6 percent shooting. YSU has now won six straight home games in the month of February.

    Wright State (16-6 and 8-4) is the hottest team in the league having won seven straight games. The Raiders avenged an earlier loss to Cleveland State by beating the Vikings 55-49 in Cleveland on Thursday. Todd Brown and Vaughn Duggins each scored 12 points in a winning effort. WSU has lived on the edge all year. The Raiders have played 12 games decided by five points or less and have won nine of those.

    Earlier this season, the Raiders beat the Penguins 66-55 at the Nutter Center on Jan. 10. YSU hung tough trailing just 49-48 with just under eight minutes remaining in the contest. However, Wright State scored 17 of the next 21 points to earn the victory.

Wright State holds a 28-7 series lead, but the Guins won last year’s game at the Beeghly Center 72-57. Overall, WSU has won nine of the last 10 meetings. Prior to YSU’s 15-point win last year, the previous eight contests at Beeghly were decided by 10 points or less.

• This is the 36th all-time meeting and 18th at the Beeghly Center between YSU and Raiders. At Beeghly, the Guins have won six of those contests, including last year.

• YSU has won six straight home games in February. The Guins beat UIC, Detroit (twice), Eastern Kentucky at Wright State last year before beating the Titans against on Thursday night.

• Last year, the Penguins snapped a nine-game Raiders winning streak at the Beeghly Center - also in February.

• The Guins won for the first time this season when trailing at halftime on Thursday. YSU was behind Detroit 28-24 at the break.

• It was just the second time this year the Guins won when scoring under 70 points (69 vs. Weber State).

• The last time YSU held a Division I opponent under 50 points in a game was Buffalo on Dec. 7, 2002 (63-48).

• YSU is 5-2 when making at least seven 3-pointers in a game.

• YSU had won 15 straight games when leading at halftime, but has now dropped its last two when leading at the break (Valpo and Green Bay).

• The Guins have won 12 of their last 14 games when shooting 50 percent and won their last seven when scoring 80 points.

• YSU has made at least 10 3-pointers on 11 occasions under Coach Slocum.

• Senior guard Byron Davis has scored double figures in a career-best 19 games. Davis had a team-high 13 versus Detroit.

• Senior forward John Barber has scored in double figures 18 times this season. He had 23 career double-figure point games entering the year.

• Barber is 83 points shy of scoring 1,000 for his career.

• 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 110th career game on Saturday while senior Dwight Holmes will appear in his 104th contest.

• Davis has played in 110 career contests - 57 at New Mexico State and 53 at YSU.

• Holmes had made 17 straight from the free-throw line before missing his last opportunity against Detroit.

• Barber has five double-doubles this year.

    Wright State has won seven straight games and is just a two-point home loss to Cleveland State away from having won nine consecutive contests. The Raiders have allowed just points once since Jan. 3 (75 by UIC). WSU held Cleveland State to 33.9 percent shooting and 49 points on Thursday and Presbyterian to 36.6 percent and 42 points on Tuesday.

    Quin Humphrey scored 29 of his 35 points in the second half and notched his sixth double-double of the season as Youngstown State defeated Wright State 72-57 on Feb. 22, 2007 at Beeghly.

    The victory was also head coach Jerry Slocum 600th win in his career.

    Humphrey had just six points in the first half as Wright State built a 33-25 advantage. But he went 8-for-10 overall in the second half and 4-for-6 from behind the arc in the second stanza.

    The Penguins shot 62 percent from the floor in the second half and 51 percent overall while holding the Raiders to 25.5 percent. YSU outscored WSU 47-24 in the second half.

    Wright State used a 17-4 run in the final eight minutes of the second half to pull ahead of Youngstown State for a 66-55 victory on Jan. 10 at the Nutter Center.

    The Penguins were within 49-48 with 7:39 remaining on a Mel Johnson basket, but could never get the lead in the second half after trailing by just four at halftime.

    Wright State led just 57-52 with three minutes to go before Vaughn Duggins’ trey sparked a 9-0 run that sealed the win.

    The Guins were 2-of-9 from behind the 3-point arc and 4-of-11 from the free throw line in the second half while Wright State was 15-of-22 for the game.

    Of the seven wins in the series for the Penguins, six have come at the Beeghly Center. WSU had won eight straight games before the Guins’ win at home last year. The Raiders have won nine of the last 10.

    Youngstown State erased a nine-point second-half deficit and recorded the first-ever season sweep of Detroit after its 55-48 victory at the Beeghly Center on Thursday evening.

    Senior Byron Davis led the Guins with 13 points while senior John Barber recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

    Detroit, which led by four at the intermission, expanded its advantage to nine, 33-24 within the first four minutes of the second half after a 3-pointer and lay up by Jon Goode, who had a game-high 26 points.

    The Guins utilized a 14-2 run over the next five minutes to gain a 38-35 with 9:58 remaining. Detroit crept within 38-37 18 seconds later, but a 9-4 run pushed the Guins’ advantage to 47-41.

    Guard Byron Davis has scored in double figures 19 times while scoring 20-or-more points on four occasions. He had nine double-figure scoring games last year.

    Davis scored a career-high 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).

    Against Valpo, he set a career high by making 10 shots. He tied his career high making four 3-pointers at UWM.

    In his career (New Mexico State and YSU) he has scored 930 points, making 117 3-pointers while dishing out 281 assists.

    Senior forward John Barber has scored in double figures in 18 games. He had picked up his ninth career double-double and fifth of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds against Detroit on Thursday. He has a double-double in two of the last three contests (19-11 at Loyola).

    In the past 21 games, he has scored 274 points (13.0 per game) while grabbing 154 rebounds (7.3 per contest). He has grabbed at least five rebounds in 20 games.

    For his career, Barber has scored 917 points while grabbing 540 rebounds. He had 13 points at Wright State earlier.

    Freshman guard Vytas Sulskis has set a freshman school record by making 35 3-pointers this season. The previous best was 31 held by Mike Alcorn in 1990-91. Sulskis is 35-of-87 from 3-point range for an impressive 40.2 percent conversion rate.

    Sulskis has scored in double figures 10 times this season, including a career-best 26 points against UIC on Jan. 3. His effort against the Flames tied for the third most by a Penguin freshman since 1980. Only Tim Jackson’s 32 and 31 point outings in 1987-88 season were better.

    At UIC last Saturday, Sulskis had 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

    In the past five games, he has scored 61 points and grabbed 26 boards.

    Freshman guard Vance Cooksey leads the team with 62 assists and 31 steals. After starting 16 of the first 17 games, he has come off the bench the last six games. He played 25 minutes against Detroit.

    Cooksey has scored in double digits against UCLA, Weber State, Notre Dame, Robert Morris and at Loyola where he had 11 points.

    In the final five minutes, Cooksey is 24-of-27 (88.9 percent) from the free-throw line.

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

    Liles, who has come off the bench the past four games, is shooting 54.4 percent from the field. He has made 98-of-180 shots from the field. For the year, he is averaging 10.5 points and 4.6 rebounds per contest. He has scored in double figures 14 times, including 12 of the last 18 games.

    He has attempted double figures in shots eight times this season. Liles leads the team with 20 blocked shots and ranks fourth in school history with 75 career swats.

    Senior forward Dwight Holmes had a career-best 19 points at Loyola last Thursday. 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 started the last four games for YSU after starting 23 times last year.

    He has seen an increased role since the Robert Morris game on Dec. 17. Entering that contest Holmes had played just 70 minutes and had 16 points and 17 rebounds.

    Since that time, Holmes has played 272 minutes in the last 15 games. He has scored 83 points and grabbed 33 rebounds in those games.

    Junior guard Mel Johnson is the Penguins’ version of Vinnie Johnson. As the sixth man, Johnson has scored 73 points, grabbed 55 rebounds, has 25 steals, 24 assists and nine blocks.

    Mikko Niemi has started the last six games at the point guard spot for the Penguins after starting once in 17 games.

On Saturday at UIC, Niemi scored a career-high eight points. Against the Flames, he made three field goals, including two 3-pointers. He also attempted a career-best seven shots, six of which were from behind the arc. He has played double figures in minutes in 12 of the last 13 games.

    The Penguins have been extremely sharp at the free-throw line the last three games. YSU has made 58 of its last 76 attempts (76.3 percent) from the charity stripe. Nine times this year, the Guins have shot better than 76 percent, but on 10 other occasions, YSU has shot below 61 percent, including two 30-percent efforts.

    The Penguins will play at Buffalo on Feb. 23 in a matchup created by the O’Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. YSU owns a 13-10 all-time series lead over the Bulls. UB won the most recent meeting - 86-66 - at Alumni Arena on Dec. 6, 2003.

    As part of the contract, the Penguins are supposed to play host to the Bulls during the 2008-09 season.

    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 seven games, YSU has scored 187 points (26.7 per game) in the first half and 265 (37.8 per game) in the second stanza.

    The Penguins have relied on seven players to handle the scoring duties this year. Of the 1,491 points scored, John Barber, Byron Davis, Jack Liles, Vance Cooksey, Vytas Sulskis, Mel Johnson and Dwight Holmes have contributed 1,409. Overall, 94.5 percent of YSU’s scoring goes through those seven.