Feb. 14, 2009

Men's Basketball: Sulskis' Basket With 1.4 Seconds Pushes Guins Past Milwaukee

    Youngstown -- Sophomore Vytas Sulskis sent a spirited Valentine's Day crowd home extremely happy when he drained the game-winning jumper from 13 feet with 1.4 seconds to help lead the Youngstown State men's basketball team past Milwaukee 70-68 on Saturday night at the Beeghly Center.
    The Penguins held the lead for more than 10 minutes in the second half before the Panthers went up 68-67 on a steal and layup by Avery Smith with 1:30 left in the contest.

    Zach Rebillot tied the game at 68 with 56.4 seconds left when he made one of two free throws. On the ensuing Panthers' possession, Smith missed and Ashan Ward grabbed the rebound to give the Guins a shot at a last-second win.
    Sulskis's first game-winning attempt missed with 10 seconds left but the Guins corralled the rebound and Coach Jerry Slocum called timeout with 3.7 seconds left. After a review of the game clock by the officials, 4.5 seconds was put on the clock to set up the game-winning sequence.
    Sulskis dribbled around the top of the key to his right and found some daylight in the lane. He hung in the air and his jumper from just outside the paint fell in with 1.4 ticks left. Ricky Franklin's desperation heave was off the mark as time expired.
    It was a wild game that featured 12 ties and 12 lead changes.
    With the win, the Penguins improve to 10-15 overall and 7-8 in the Horizon League. It is the first four-game winning streak for the program since the start of the 2000-01 season and the first-four game conference win streak since 1999. UWM falls to 14-11 and 9-6.
    In the second half, the Guins trailed 52-50 before going on a 10-0 run to seize control of the contest.
    YSU built a 65-56 lead with 5:47 left before the Panthers used a furious comeback to eventually pull in front with 90 seconds left.
    For the game, the Guins shot 44.1 percent from the field (26-of-59) while the Panthers hit at a 43.9 percent clip (25-of-57). YSU outscored UWM 34-27 in the second half. James Eayrs had 19 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Panthers.
    Leading the way for YSU was Sirlester Martin who scored a career-high 20 points. DeAndre Mays had 15 for the Guins as well.

     Milwaukee led 41-36 following an entertaining first half. Both teams combined to make 15 3-pointers while only nine total fouls were whistled. Only three free throws were attempted despite 77 points being scored and five players scored in double figures.
    Mays led the Guins with 13 points while Martin added 11. For the Panthers, Franklin had 14 points, Tone Boyle had a dozen and James Eayrs added 10.

    The Penguins committed just three turnovers in the opening 20 minutes. YSU shot 42.4 percent (14-of-33), but were an impressive 54.5 percent (6-of-11) from behind the 3-point arc.
    Milwaukee shot an impressive 57.1 percent making 16-of-28 attempts and were 9-of-16 (58.3 percent) from behind the 3-point arc.
    In the first half, six ties and five lead changes kept the back-and-forth contest moving. The Penguins scored the first six points of the contest on 3-pointers by Ward and Tom Parks to build their biggest lead of the opening stanza. However the last time the Guins led was 16-14 at the 12:18 mark.

    The Panthers led by five points on two occasions, the first was 26-21 at the 6:50 mark. YSU responded by scoring five straight to tie the game.

    UWM closed the half with a 3-pointer by Franklin, his fourth of the opening half, to lead 41-36 at the break.

    The Penguins are back on the road on Wednesday to take on Cleveland State. Tipoff for the contest at the Wolstein Center is set for 7 p.m.