Dec. 4, 2008 | Box Score

Penguins Go Cold In Second Half, Fall 68-57 to Valpo

    Youngstown -- The Youngstown State men's basketball team saw a red-hot start from floor turn to an ice cold final 25 minutes as it fell 68-57 to Valparaiso on Thursday in the Penguins' Horizon League opener.
    The Penguins started 11-for-22 and 8-for-10 from behind the 3-point arc in the first 15 minutes, but they made just two of their next 19 shots and missed 13 straight treys. YSU led by as many as 14 in the first half before Valpo made its comeback.
    YSU falls to 1-5 overall and 0-1 in the Horizon League while Valparaiso snapped a four-game losing streak to improve to 3-4 overall and 1-1 in league play.
    Junior Kelvin Bright scored a team-high 13 points while junior Sirlester Martin picked up his second double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

    Valparaiso's Urule Igbavboa scored a game-high 27 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the floor and 9-of-11 from the charity stripe and grabbed nine points
    The Penguins led by as many as 14, 33-19, in the first half before Valpo closed out the half on a 13-2 run to get within 35-32 at the break. YSU started 8-for-10 from 3-point range before missing the mark on their final three. Four of YSU's starters ran into foul trouble with two infractions in the first half, and leading scorer Vytas Sulskis was limited to five minutes.
    The Crusaders scored the first four points of the game and led 7-2 after Howard Little's trey with 17:09 remaining. YSU then went on a 15-2 run to seize a 17-9 advantage on back-to-back 3-pointers by Ashen Ward and Tom Parks.
    Valpo scored six straight to close the deficit to 17-15 with 8:41 remaining, but YSU answered with a 14-2 run over the next 3:41 and claimed a 31-17 advantage on Sirlester Martin's bucket at the five-minute mark. From that point, Valpo held the Penguins without a field goal until the 16:46 mark in the second period as it closed the half on a 15-4 run. YSU committed eight turnovers over the stretch.
    Bright scored 13 points in the first half to lead all scorers while Igbavboa had 12 to lead Valpo.
    Valpo scored the first four points of the second half to take its first lead in 17 minutes when Igbavboa made two free throws to make the score 36-35. The lead bounced back-and-forth four times until Logan Jones' layup gave the Crusaders a 40-39 lead that they would not relinquish.
    Valpo upped it lead to 51-43 with 8:38 remaining to go up eight, but YSU scored three straight to get within five with 7:13 remaining. Valpo scored the next four points and later scored nine straight to increase a seven-point margin to 16 with 1:59 remaining.
    The Crusaders led 68-51 before YSU made two 3-pointers in the final 20 seconds.

    The Penguins shot just 26.9 percent in the second half and connected on just 55 percent (11-of-20) of their free-throw attempts for the game
    YSU hosts Butler, Saturday, Dec. 6, at 7:05 p.m. at the Beeghly Center