Fort Myers, Fla. -- Youngstown State men's basketball Head Coach Jerry Slocum became the 38th coach in NCAA history to reachh 700 career wins after the Penguins defeated North Dakota, 79-69, on Monday afternoon at Alico Arena.
Senior Bobby Hain led the Penguins with his second straight double-double with a career-high 29 points and 10 rebounds. It was the 20th 20th double-double of Hain's career, and he also became just the 23rd player in school history to score at least 1,100 points in a career. He ranks 23rd with 1,112 career points.
Hain connected on 12-of-17 shooting from the field, made a pair of 3-pointers with four assists, two steals and a block.
Joining Hain in double figures for the Penguins, who improve to 1-4, were junior Jorden Kaufman with a career-high 17 points, sophomore Cameron Morse scored 14 points and classmate Francisco Santiago added 10 points.
"I'm excited for all of the players that have played for me" Slocum said. "I'm really excited for my wife, Kim. She's been special and she has been through all of them.
"How good was Bobby (Hain) and Jorden (Kaufman) tonight. They couldn't guard us down (in the post). Those two gave us a great lift tonight."
North Dakota, who falls to 2-3, was led by Quinton Hooker with 24 points and Cortez Seales with 18 points.
The Penguins led by just three, 34-31, at the half but opened the half on a 23-6 run to take a 19-point lead, 57-38, with 12:54 to go. Hain scored 12 of the Penguins first 16 points of the second half and scored 19 of his points after halftime.
The Fighting Haws fought their way back to a 10-point deficit, 57-47, with nine minutes left, but YSU used a 14-4 run keyed by 3-pointers by Morse and Hain and a layup by Kaufman to take a 71-51 lead with five minutes to go.
North Dakota chipped the Penguins' deficit to eight with just 27 seconds left, but Hain put the finishing touches on the game with a pair of free throws for the 79-69 win.
The Penguins led for 36:21 and shot 55.7 percent (34-of-61) for the game.
Youngstown State hosts Thiel, Wednesday, Nov. 25. Tip-off is set for 7:05 at the Beeghly Center.
