Youngstown State rallies to beat Cleveland State 56-54 in Horizon League Tournament semifinal

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Siem Uijtendaal scored all 13 of his points in the second half and Ty Harper had a four-point play with 44 seconds remaining after missing his first nine shots to rally Youngstown State to a 56-54 victory over Cleveland State on Monday night in a Horizon League Tournament semifinal.

The fourth-seeded Penguins (21-12) advance to play top seed Robert Morris in the championship game on Tuesday with an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament up for grabs. The Colonials beat No. 6 seed Oakland 79-76 in overtime in an earlier semifinal.

Harper missed his six previous 3-point attempts before connecting for the game-winner. Tevin Smith made two free throws with 1:08 left to put the second-seeded Vikings (21-12) up by two.

Uijtendaal also had four steals for the Penguins. Nico Galette had nine points and 12 rebounds to go with three steals. Harper scored nine.

Smith finished with 14 points and two blocks to pace the Vikings. Je’Shawn Stevenson added 11 points and Tahj Staveskie scored 10.

Juwan Maxey scored all eight of his points in the first half to help Youngstown State take a 22-21 lead at the break.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

By The Associated Press