YOUNGSTOWN - Damian Eargle stands 6-foot-7 and weighs about 215 pounds.
Green Bay's Brennan Cougill is 6-9 and is about 260 pounds. With about 7 minutes remaining, Eargle, a YSU junior forward and Warren G. Harding graduate, was directly behind Cougill. But, that didn't stop Eargle from reaching with his arms that make him bigger than 7 feet and grabbing the rebound without getting the dreaded over the back call.
Then, Eargle put the offensive board back from 4 feet away - giving the Penguins a 14-point lead.
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Brooks, Eargle talk about tourney win at Beeghly Center
It was part of the Penguins' 77-60 first-round Horizon League Tournament victory Tuesday at Beeghly Center.
Besides Cougill, who had eight points, there was 7-1 center Alec Brown, whose skinny frame and all had a game-high 20 points for the seventh-seeded Phoenix, who ended the season 15-15.
"They're two big guys," said Eargle, who had a team-high 17 points, nine rebounds and two blocks. "Cougill weighs 270 or something like that. It's just effort."
YSU hasn't won a first-round playoff game since beating Detroit in 2007.
"I just wanted to come out hard," Eargle said. "There comes a point and time where you get tired of losing in the first round. We all have the mindset of just being aggressive.
"That's what I did."
The sixth-seeded Penguins (16-14) next play Friday against third-seeded Detroit (19-13), which beat Loyola on Tuesday, 80-71. The game will be a second-round game in Valparaiso, Ind. The top-ranked Crusaders host the second-round and semifinal games.
As for Penguins, they ended one of the league's hottest teams. Green Bay came into YSU winning eight of its last 10 - including wins against Butler, Valparaiso and Cleveland State.
However, just like the game against YSU back on Jan. 22 in Youngstown where the Penguins won by 30, it was an utter domination by YSU once again.
"I thought for 40 minutes, from tipoff to the end, I thought it was the most complete basketball game we've played this year with not a whole highs and lows," YSU coach Jerry Slocum said. "I thought our guys kept their intensity for 40 minutes tonight."
YSU took a 17-6 lead on Blake Allen's 3. Then Penguins shot 50 percent at halftime and were 8 of 12 from 3-point range. Allen finished with 11 points.
The Penguins had a balanced scoring attack.
Kendrick Perry and DuShawn Brooks both had 12 at the break. Perry finished the game with 15 points, while Brooks added 16. Ashen Ward had 14 for YSU.
For Brooks, it's been a struggle offensively prior to Tuesday's game.
"I was just coming out, knowing I needed to play defense for my team and help us out - doing the little things and my offensive game would come sooner or later," Brooks said. "It worked out good for me."
It worked out well for Eargle tonight as well.
Eargle put an exclamation point on the first half - putting back his own miss near the basket with a thunderous dunk with 30 second left before intermission- giving the Penguins a 45-34 lead at the break.
"Dam can step off the block and little bit and he shot the ball extremely well tonight," Slocum said. "In the first half, he drove it extremely well. They came up. He went around them and made some great plays. The play just before the half I thought was a temple maker.
"In the second half, they knew they couldn't guard him, they stayed off of him and he made some good jump shots. His basketball IQ as the year as gone on has gotten better and better."
It was just one of those game for the former WGH standout, who was 8 of 13 from the floor.
"When I'm hitting shots, it's a good momentum thing for me," Eargle said. "I was just feeling it and I got into my groove."
