The Youngstown State men’s basketball team welcomed The Oklahoma State Cowboys on March 15th for the NIT tournament. Oklahoma State was coming into the game 18-15 while the Penguins were coming at 24-9.

The Cowboys were the number one seed but had to move the game to the Beeghly Center because they were hosting the NCAA Tournament for wrestling.

There was a total of 4,099 in attendance for the game. Oklahoma State had a way bigger team than the Penguins, so Calhoun had to make some adjustments.

“I think they were just, you know, a few minutes through the game we went scoreless for about five to six minutes. I think we let them make some big shots that gave them momentum and I think it was a big momentum shift,” says senior guard Dwayne Cohill.

Cohill led the whole game with 25 points.

YSU was leading most of the game until about 1o minutes and 20 seconds were left in the 2nd half, going into halftime with a 4 point lead over the #1 seed.

“The first half they were switching with them, which was easier for me to get in space and play one-on-one with them, in the second half they did a better job you know, pinching the floor making me see two bodies,” says Cohill.

Adrian Nelson led the game with three blocks, with two of them being over the seven-footer Moussa Cisse.

The Cowboys had 44 points inside the paint, which led them to getting the lead in the 2nd half.

“Youngstown Community, I appreciate you. I thank all our fans for the support coming out changing the culture and the tradition that’s going on here. Hopefully, you know, there’s more to come. Somebody can do exactly what we did or more,” says Cohill.

The Oklahoma State Cowboys ended up coming back and beating the Penguins 69-64.