Box Score

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (1/18/14) – Senior Evan Bruinsma scored 15 second half points and Juwan Howard Jr. pitched in 20, but it wasn't enough as the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team dropped a 77-63 contest to Youngstown State Saturday night at the Beeghly Center. The win was the Penguins first at home over Detroit since Feb. 7, 2008.

Howard finished 7-of-15 from the field and 5-of-7 from the free throw line, while grabbing six boards. Bruinsma went 6-of-8 from the field in the second half and added three rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Detroit (8-12, 1-4 HL) trailed 51-47 with 9:30 left in regulation and had the opportunity to inch closer, but some untimely misses from the charity stripe followed by back-to-back three-pointers from Ryan Weber extended the Penguins lead to 10, 57-47, with 7:56 left. A put back dunk from  Ugochukwu Njoku trimmed the lead to eight, 57-49, but that was as close as the score would get as Youngstown State used a 14-5 run to build its largest lead of the game 71-45 with 3:35 left.

Youngstown State (12-8, 3-2 HL) opened the game with an early 9-4 run that forced Titans head coach Ray McCallum to call a timeout with 16:46 left on the clock. Following the timeout Detroit responded with a 15-6 run - including a three-pointer from Howard – to give the Titans a 19-15 lead with 9:21 left. The Penguins bounced back with a 13-5 run to take  28-24 lead, before Howard closed the half with a layup to make the score 28-26 at intermission. Howard led all scorers in the first half with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting, while Matthew Grant controlled the glass with five rebounds.

Detroit shot 42.6 percent (23-of-54) overall, just 11.1 percent (2-18)from downtown, while Youngstown State finished shooting 54.5 percent (24-of-44) overall, including 45 percent (9-20) from beyond the arc. The Titans won the battle on the boards 29-26 and recorded six steals, but committed 10 turnovers, which resulted in 10 points for the Penguins, who dished out 20 assists  on the night.

DJ Cole led Youngstown State with a career-high 22 points, while Bobby Hain added 18 and Weber and Kendrick Perry scored 13 apiece.

Detroit will continue its three-game road swing when the Titans invade Wisconsin to face Milwaukee on Friday (Jan. 24) and Green Bay on Sunday (Jan. 26). Both games will be carried live on 97.1 The Ticket's webstream with Dan Leach the voice of Titan Basketball.