Men's Basketball Scoreboard (Jan. 31)
Youngstown State 73, Milwaukee 65
Behind a career effort from Kendrick Perry, Youngstown State collected a key Horizon League win on Tuesday night, knocking off Milwaukee, 73-65, at U.S. Cellular Arena.
Perry tallied a career-best 30 points to lead Youngstown State (12-9, 7-4 Horizon) to a season sweep of Milwaukee (14-10, 7-5 Horizon), giving the Penguins a potentially key tie-breaker down the stretch of the conference season.
Down 24-23 with 5:59 left in the first half, the Penguins took control of the game with three-pointers on three of their next four possessions, beginning with Nate Perry's triple off a feed from Ashen Ward. In turn, Ward drained a three to push the lead to five, and Perry closed the run with another three to put YSU ahead, 32-24.
The barrage of threes led to Kendrick Perry being fouled on a three-point attempt; his subsequent three free throws pushed Youngstown State ahead, 35-26, before a Paris Gulley tip-in at the horn made it a seven-point game at the intermission.
Reliant on the three-pointer all year, Youngstown State hit seven in the first half but would none during the game's decisive run to start the second half. The Penguins came out of the locker room with an 8-2 burst, forcing Milwaukee into a timeout after Fletcher Larson's layup put YSU up, 43-30, just two and a half minutes into the half.
The lead would swell midway through the half as DuShawn Brooks' dunk and five straight points from Perry extended YSU's advantage to 59-43; the Penguins would hold an 18-point advantage before a furious Milwaukee rally down the stretch threatened to undermine the work done by YSU in the first 37 minutes.
Employing a full-court press, Milwaukee forced turnovers on three straight YSU possessions, trimming a 65-53 deficit to 67-61 after a Kaylon Williams three-pointer with 1:55 to play. Free throws helped the Penguins return the game to a three-possession contest, and the Panthers could not get enough shots to drop to threaten in the final minute.
Perry's 30-point effort was the first by a Penguin since 2010 and was just the third by a Horizon League player this season. Damian Eargle and Brooks each added 14, with Eargle punctuating the win with a dunk off a feed from Perry to seal the result. YSU, one of the top three-point shooting teams in the country, finished the night 9-for-21 from behind the arc.
Williams led Milwaukee with 17 points, with Kyle Kelm coming off the bench to add 12. Tony Meier posted 10 points for the Panthers, who shot 40.3 percent compared to YSU's 47.3.
