Horizon League’s Two Hottest Teams Square Off When Guins Visit Cleveland State

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Feb. 17, 2009

Horizon League’s Two Hottest Teams Square Off When Guins Visit Cleveland State
    The Youngstown State men’s basketball team (10-15, 7-8 Horizon League) goes for its first five-game winning streak since 1999 and looks to clinch a first-round home tournament game when it visits Cleveland State, Wednesday, Feb. 18, at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Ohio.
    Tipoff is slated for 7:05 p.m. and the game will also be broadcast live on NewsRadio 570 WKBN AM.
    The Guins are coming off an exhilerating 70-68 win over Milwaukee on Feb. 14 at the Beeghly Center. Sophomore Vytas Sulskis’ jumper with 1.4 seconds remaining broke a 68-68 tie and lifted the Penguins to their fourth straight Horizon League win.
    Junior Sirlester Martin scored a career-high 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting and junior DeAndre Mays added 15 points with six rebounds and three assists.
    Junior Kelvin Bright leads the team with 12.3 points per game while Mays owns a scoring average of 11.2 points per game. Junior Sirlester Martin, who averages 9.5 points per game, leads the team and ranks second in the Horizon League with 7.2 rebounds per game.
    Cleveland State, who owns an overall record of 19-8 and a 10-5 mark in the Horizon League, enters the game on a six-game winning after knocking off Green Bay, 83-75, on Feb. 14. The Vikings have not lost since falling to the Penguins, 64-60, on Jan. 23 at the Beeghly Center.
    Senior J’Nathan Bulluck leads the Vikings in scoring with 15.4 points per game while Norris Cole is second on the team with 12.8 points per game. Senior Cedric Jackson averages 9.7 points per game and leads the Horizon League with 5.6 assists per contest.
    This is the 71st meeting between Youngstown State and Cleveland State in the all-time series that dates back to 1931. The Penguins own a slim 36-34 advantage in the series, including a 64-60 win earlier this season. The Penguins have not won at the Wolstein Center since a 68-63 victory on Jan. 28, 2006.
    The Penguins host Saint Peter’s (N.J.), Saturday, Feb. 21, in the ESPN BracketBuster at the Beeghly Center. Tipoff is slated for 4:35 p.m.

A Win Will
• Improve YSU to 11-15 overall and 8-8 in the Horizon League.
• Set mark for most Horizon League wins in a season - seven in 2006-07.
• Mark YSU’s 37th win over Cleveland State.
• Mark YSU’s fifth consecutive Horizon League win.
• Mark YSU’s fifth road win of the season and the fourth road league win.
• Be the first time YSU has won five straight games since the 1998-99 season.
• Be the first time YSU has won five straight league games since 1999 when it won five consecutive as a member of the Mid-Continent Conference.
• Mark Head Coach Jerry Slocum’s 621st career victory and his 41st at Youngstown State.
• YSU’s 975th victory in the program’s history.

Slocum In Select Company
Youngstown State Head Coach Jerry Slocum is in some pretty elite company. Slocum, who has 620 career wins, is one of eight active Division I head coaches with more than 600 career victories and ranks tied for sixth among that group.

Can Clinch Home Tournament Game
With a win in one of its last three Horizon League games or a loss by Loyola and Valparaiso, Youngstown State will have earned the No. 6 seed in the Horizon League tournament and host a first round game on Tuesday, March 3. It would be the second time in three years the Penguins hosted a first round game. The last time was in 2007 when the Guins defeated Detroit, 82-80.

Youngstown-Cleveland Connections
• Youngstown State freshman Ashen Ward is a native of Cleveland, Ohio, and attended Villa Angela-Saint Joseph High School.
• Cleveland State Assistant Coach Jason Gee was an assistant coach at Youngstown State from
1989-93.
• Cleveland State’s D’Aundray Brown is a native of Youngstown, Ohio, and went to Ursuline High School. His father, Aundra Brown, played at Youngstown State from 1987-91 and his mother, Sharella Thomas, played for the YSU women’s program from 1990-93.

Raining Three’s
Over the course of the last three games, the Penguins have been on target from behind the 3-point line. In those games, the Guins are shooting an impressive 52.9 percent (27-of-51) from behind the arc. Against UIC on Feb. 7, the Penguins set a season high with 12 3-pointers made. The last time YSU made 10 3-pointers in a game was against Valparaiso on Dec. 4, 2008. It is also the most 3-pointers made in a single game since the Guins made 13 against Detroit on Feb. 14, 2007. The Guins also made seven (7-of-14) 3-pointers against Green Bay on Feb. 12 and eight (8-of-15) against Milwaukee on Feb. 14.

Scouting Cleveland State
    Cleveland State, which owns an overall record of 19-8 and a 10-5 mark in the Horizon League, enters the game on a six-game winning after knocking off Green Bay, 83-75, on Feb. 14. The Vikings have not lost since falling to the Penguins, 64-60, on Jan. 23 at the Beeghly Center.
    Senior J’Nathan Bulluck leads the Vikings in scoring with 15.4 points per game while Norris Cole is second on the team with 12.8 points per game. Senior Cedric Jackson averages 9.7 points per game and leads the Horizon League with 5.6 assists per contest.

Up Next... Saint Peter’s (N.J.)
The Penguins return home to celebrate Senior Night and host Saint Peter’s (N.J.) in the Seventh Annual ESPN BracketBuster on Saturday, Feb. 21. Tipoff is set for 4:35 p.m. at the Beeghly Center. The contest will be broadcast on NewsRadio 570 AM WKBN and tape-delayed on MyYTV.

Last Time Against Cleveland State
    Youngstown State put together an impressive 40 minutes and defeated Cleveland State, 64-60, much to the delight of a frenzied crowd of 6,249 and an ESPNU nationally-televised audience on Jan. 23 at the Beeghly Center.
    It was the largest crowd since Jan. 31, 1987 when 6,339 attended the YSU-Akron game at Beeghly Center.
    Senior Jack Liles led four players scoring in double figures and tied a season-high with 18 points while junior DeAndre Mays scored 16 points. Junior Sirlester Martin scored a career-high 15 points with nine rebounds while junior Kelvin Bright added 10 points.

Cooksey is Charitable
Over the course of his 53-game career, Vance Cooksey has been the Penguins’ best free-throw shooter. He leads the team with a .771 free-throw percentage (37-of-48) this season. Last year, Cooksey owned an impressive free-throw percentage of .797 (55-of-69). His current career free-throw percentage is .786 and ranks tied for eighth all-time.

Saturday In the Parks
Over the last three weeks, sophomore Tom Parks has been a menace to his opponents. During that time, Parks is shooting 57.1 percent from the field. More impressive is his accuracy from behind the 3-point line. Parks, who tied a career high with 15 points against UIC on Feb. 7, is shooting 57.1 percent (16-of-28) from behind the arc in the last six games. He made four treys against Wright State (Jan. 29), three against Detroit (Jan. 31), one against Loyola (Feb. 5) and a career-best five against UIC (Feb. 7). He went 5-for-5 against the Flames. Of his 22 3-pointers made this season, 16 have come in the last six games.

February Firsts
• Defeated Loyola for the first road win in the month of February since a 75-69 win at UMKC on Feb. 17, 2001.
• The Penguins won for the first time at the UIC Pavilion on Feb. 7.
• With the win over Milwaukee on Feb. 14, YSU has won four straight games in the month of February for the first time since 1999.

Mays Has Monster Week
Junior DeAndre Mays turned in two outstanding performances last week in YSU’s wins over Green Bay and Milwaukee. Mays averaged 18 points, five rebounds and two assists per game. Against Green Bay, Mays lit up the Phoenix for a game-high 21 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field. He also made 10-of-14 shots from the free-throw line. The Dallas, Texas, native poured in 15 points in the 70-68 win over Milwaukee.

Martin Hits For Career High
Junior Sirlester Martin posted a career-high 20 points to lead the Penguins past Milwaukee, 70-68, on Feb. 14. Martin connected on 8-of-13 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 from the free-throw line. Martin has scored in double figures 12 times this season and has led the Penguins in scoring three times. He has also led the Guins in rebounding 13 times.

Liles Still Streakin’; Now Fifth on Games Played Chart
Youngstown State senior Jack Liles has played in 107 consecutive games, dating back to the 2005-06 season. Liles, who has played in 113 career games, needs 187 points to become the first player in school history to reach 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 100 blocks in a career. Liles also ranks third all-time with 112 career blocked shots. He also has 543 career rebounds. Liles also moved into a tie for fifth-place on the career games played list with 113. He also ranks sixth all-time with 87 games started.