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KENT, OH – College basketball Hall of Fame coach and analyst, the late Al McGuire, used to say that the first minutes of the second half are critical in a basketball game.Kent State made those words prophetic Saturday afternoon as the Golden Flashes scored 19 unanswered points - part of a 22-4 run - at the start of the second half to break open a close game and rout arch-rival Akron 87-70 before a sellout crowd of 6,204 at the MAC Center.
Kent State (12-7,3-2 MAC) picked up its second consecutive victory after opening the MAC season 0-2. First, the Flashes squandered a second-half lead at Miam,i losing to the RedHawks in overtime 55-53. They then let a seven-point lead slip with 3:40 remaining through their grasp Sunday at home in a 76-70 loss to Bowling Green.
“We pressured the ball effectively” KSU head coach Geno Ford said after the game. “We really scrambled the guys and really tried to pressure the ball hard and make them put the ball on the deck and be a driving team rather than a jump shooting team”
Akron (13-6,3-2 MAC) has now lost two of its last three after winning 12 of 14 games to start the season. Saturday’s setback was the Zips’ second-worst loss of the campaign. They lost to North Carolina State by 21 points 66-45 back on November 20th.
Sophomore forward Justin Greene, who scored 23 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, led give KSU players in double figures. It was his third double-double of the season.
“The game was pumped up all week and to get a big win was good for us” Greene said.
Tyree Evans and Mike McKee each added 14. Rodriguez Sherman had 13 and Chris Singletary had 10 on a day where the Golden Flashes shot 51.7% from the field (30-for-58) and decisively won the rebound battle 38-28.
Chris McKnight came off the bench to lead Akron with 13 points while Jimmy Conyers had 12 and Steve McNees added 11. However, Brett McKnight, the Zips leading scorer at 10.4 points per game coming into the contest, was held to just two points and two rebounds.
“They physically just manhandled us right from the get-go” Zips head coach Keith Dambrot said afterwards. “They physically just gave it to us. When those guys (Kent State) are right, they are the one team you really don’t want to play.”
The game was decided in the opening moments of the second half, when the Golden Flashes held the Zips without a point for nearly eight minutes, turning a one-point Akron lead into a 16-point Kent State advantage.
The rivals traded runs and leads during the game’s first 20 minutes. The first run came from the home team as KSU scored seven consecutive points to take a 12-7 on a steal and slam dunk by Rodriguez Sherman.
Akron countered with a 7-0 run to regain the lead 14-12 at the 11:29 mark on a three by McNees. After the game was tied 15-15 the two teams matched six-point runs to tie the score 21-21 on a layup by Brett McClanahan.
Akron then opened a seven-point lead (29-22) - its largest of the first half, finishing a 15-7 spurt with a McClanahan three from the right side of the arc.
Kent State used a 7-0 run to tie the score 31-31 at the 2:45 mark on two Anthony Simpson free throws. Both teams scored four points the remainder of the half and the game was tied 35-35 at halftime.
Neither team shot the ball well in the opening 20 minutes, with Akron shooting 44.8% from the field (13-for-29) while Kent State was at only 37.9% (11-for-29). The Flashes, however, used their 11-for-16 free throw shooting, and 21-16 rebound edge to forge a tie at intermission.
After the 19-0 run by the Golden Flashes, Akron found itself down 18-points (57-39) with 12:05 remaining. The Zips started to claw their way back into the game using a 10-5 spurt to close the deficit to 13 with 9:11 remaining after a fast-break layup by McNees.
Kent State then pushed the lead back out to 17 points 68-51 after two Singletary free throws at the 6:32 mark. Akron then made one final push closing to within 10 72-62 with 4:27 remaining on a three-point play by Nikola Cvetinovic.
That would be the closest the Zips would get for the remainder of the game as the Golden Flashes raised their lead to 19 points, the largest of the contest, with 36.2 seconds remaining on a Singletary layup.
KSU defeated Akron for the sixth time in the last seven meetings at home while the Zips are just 1-2 in MAC play away from home.
The Golden Flashes shot 65.5% in the second half (19-for-29,) including 3-of-4 from three-point range. They converted 23 second chance points to Akron’s 12 and forced 12 Zips turnovers, which produced 19 points.
“We didn’t handle adversity, and they handled prosperity” Dambrot said. “We have to become better when things go poorly”
Cross-division play begins this week, with Kent State traveling to Toledo to meet the Rockets on Tuesday night and Akron heading to Western Michigan next night in Kalamazoo.
NOTES: The game was the 128th lifetime meeting between the two schools with Kent State leading 67-61 and winning five of the last six …. The 67 wins are the most Kent State has against any opponent….Justin Greene led the Golden Flashes in scoring for the eighth time this season – the most on the club….Akron head coach Keith Dambrot is 5-12 lifetime against Kent State…KSU head coach Geno Ford is 2-1 lifetime against Akron and Dambrot.
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