Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes. YSU's Nico Galette drives and scores past Purdue Fort Wayne's Maximus Nelson on Wednesday night at Zidian Family Arena. Galette had his seventh double-double of the season with 21 points with 10 rebounds.

YOUNGSTOWN — After digging itself out of an early hole, Youngstown State put the pedal to the metal in the second half.

Facing a tight game at halftime, Penguins exploded for 51 points in the second half to pull away for a 93-71 victory over Purdue Fort Wayne on Wednesday night at Zidian Family Arena.

YSU limited the Horizon League’s top scoring team to just 31 points in the second half on 36.7% shooting overall and 28.6% from beyond the arc. Meanwhile on the offensive end, the Penguins hit 16-of-31 (51.6%) of their shots from the floor and seven threes.

“Our execution was really good on both sides of the ball,” head coach Ethan Faulkner said. “Defensively in the second half, we were incredible. That’s an elite offensive basketball team, and to do that in the second half was really good. Then offensively, we’re starting to get some things figured out. Over the course of the last three or four weeks, we’ve played some really good basketball on that end of the floor.”

The Penguins fell behind during the first five minutes to start the game, as Maximus Nelson knocked down a quick flurry of four 3-pointers to help the Mastodons build an early 11-point lead.

But a 10-2 run during a three-minute stretch helped lift YSU back into the game, tying things up at 28 with about six minutes to go. It marked the fourth time in Horizon League play that the Penguins have rallied to win after facing a double-digit deficit.

By halftime, YSU had surged ahead to take a 42-40 lead. So during the break, the Penguins hit the reset button.

“Tight game at half, but it was coming from a point where we were down double digits,” fifth-year forward Nico Galette said. “We made a good defensive effort and strong offensive effort to take the lead back going into the half. So we were pretty confident at halftime. We just said, ‘let’s make it 0-0 and go from there.'”

The Penguins used two runs in the second half to put away Purdue Fort Wayne.

Juniors Cris Carroll and Juwan Maxey knocked down back-to-back threes to open the second half to spark a 13-4 run. Then, after the Penguins had built their lead to double digits, YSU delivered the knockout punch with a 16-3 run.

“When we share the ball, with everybody playing together, we’re a hard team to beat,” redshirt-junior guard Jason Nelson said. “At the beginning of the year, it was kind of a struggle for us hitting shots. I feel like the more deep in the year we get, we’ve gotten better.”

The scoring was contagious for the Penguins, as Galette led four double-figure scorers with 21 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for his seventh double-double of the season.

Maxey added 17 points for YSU, while Jason Nelson had 14 and Carroll had 12. Sophomore Gabe Dynes also finished eight points, seven rebounds and six blocks.

“We really have a deep team,” Galette said. “So anybody on any given night is bound to go do something.”

Rasheed Bello had 21 points to lead the Mastodons. But also PFW’s Jalen Jackson came in as the league’s leading scorer, averaging 20.2 points per game, yet the Penguins held him to just eight points on 3-for-11 shooting.

“I got a lot of respect for him — I think he’s probably the Player of the Year in the league right now,” Faulkner said of Jackson. “I thought we did a really good job getting our chest on him early. He’s a very physical guard, and then just making him play in crowds — not letting him see one-on-one opportunities. Then Gabe Dynes was elite around the rim blocking and altering shots.”

Wednesday’s win propels YSU into a tie for second in the Horizon League standings with four games left in the regular season. At 11-5, the Penguins are tied with the Mastodons and Robert Morris, which knocked off conference leaders Cleveland State 68-59 on Wednesday.

That trio is now 1.5 games behind the Vikings, as YSU prepares to visit the Wolstein Center in a nationally televised contest on Sunday at 3 p.m. on ESPNU.

“This is the time of year where great teams start building that momentum into the most important time of the year, which is obviously conference tournament time, trying to fight and get to the NCAA tournament,” Faulkner said. “I think our mindset is really good right now. We understand we’re fighting for a lot. Certainly don’t want to fall outside that top-four. Going to need some help, but still trying to compete for a regular season championship.”