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KENT, OHIO – The Kent State Golden Flashes are one banged up basketball team.
Senior guard Chris Singletary has a sprained ligament in his left knee. Senior forward Anthony Simpson has a banged-up right thumb. Senior guard Tyree Evans has a broken nose and is suffering from the flu. All this, plus junior guard Rodriguez Sherman is still coming back from knee surgery earlier in the season.
Despite all the issues, the Golden Flashes are finding ways to win, as they did Wednesday night, defeating the Ohio Bobcats 74-67 before 3,763 fans at the MAC Center.
With the score tied at 61-61 late in the game. KSU came up with a steal. Sherman tapped the ball over to Evans for a thunderous slam dunk, giving the Flashes a lead they would not relinquish as they finished the game with a 13-6 run.
Kent State (19-8,10-3 MAC) won for the ninth time in its last 10 games while bouncing back from a 70-55 loss at Buffalo on Saturday. With the victory, Akron remains atop the Eastern Division as the Zips defeated Miami 61-56 in Oxford.
Ohio (14-13, 5-8 MAC) dropped its second consecutive game after going through a stretch of winning five of seven. The Bobcats remain at the bottom of the Eastern Division as they finish a stretch of six games in a span of 14 days.
“We’re tired. We’re beat up.” KSU head Coach Geno Ford said after the game. This thing hits teams at different times and we’re going through this right now. So it has to be mental toughness, heart, and soul - all those kind of things to pull out wins.”
Singletary led four KSU players in double figures with 17 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. It was his second double-double of the season as he had 14 points and 10 assists in a December home win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
“I thought he really carried us for long stretches of the second half tonight” Ford said. “We had a bad shooting night and didn’t look good on offense, but Chris carried us.”
Sophomore forward Justin Greene added 15 points and 11 boards while Simpson had 15 as well coming off the bench. Sherman went 9-for-12 from the free throw line to finish with 11 points.
The Bobcats were led again by freshman guard D.J. Cooper. The native of Chicago, who is making a strong case for MAC Freshman of the Year, led all scorers with 23 points, along with 10 rebounds and six assists while scoring in double digits for the 21st time in 27 games this season.
“I was really proud of our guys’ effort tonight.” Ohio head coach John Groce said afterwards. “I thought they played with tremendous toughness. I thought the turnover by Freeman and Bassett in the second half was critical down the stretch.”
Earlier in the week, Cooper was named MAC East Player of the Week fueled by his 33-point performance in the Cats double-overtime loss at Akron on Sunday.
“He is a competitor. He hates to lose. His mental toughness and want-to-compete to win is one of the many special qualities that he has” Groce said of Cooper.
His partner in the backcourt, junior transfer Armon Bassett had 20 points. Tommy Freeman added 11 and senior center Kenneth Van Kempen scored 10.
“They (Cooper and Bassett) are the most skilled backcourt in the conference, they are going to score some points, but we made them make some tough shots. But they wore us out on the perimeter tonight” Ford said.
The game was close in the first half, with neither squad taking as much as a four-point lead. Kent State held the lead for much of the first 20 minutes as it opened up a four-point lead on two occasions the last being 20-16 at the 7:34 mark on two Greene free throws.
Ohio then went on an 8-2 run to take a 24-22 at the 5:06 mark on a Van Kampen jumper from the right wing.
Kent State used a 10-5 spurt to open their largest lead of the first half, 34-29, at the 1:30 mark on a driving layup by Greene, but the hosts went into the halftime with only a two-point advantage 36-34 as Cooper ended the first half with a pair of free throws and three-pointer from the right side of the arc.
What kept Kent State in the lead at halftime was going 10-for-11 from the free throw line and holding a 25-16 rebound edge as they shot just 36.4% from the field (12-for-33). Ohio was only 12-for-28 (42.9%) with four of those shots coming from three-point range, but the ‘Cats were just 6-for-11 from the foul line.
Ohio started to find the range early in the second half and used a 14-8 run to open its largest lead of the game 52-44 with 11:51 remaining.
The Bobcats would hold the lead until KSU went on a decisive 16-4 run to seize control of the contest. Key in the run was Singletary who scored nine points and got the run started with three-point play, a put-back basket off a miss from Greene, and a tip-in.
“He (Singletary) is a terrific player. He makes guys better … with his vision (on the court), and his ability to pass. I think he is a really good passer, and also he brings toughness to his team,” Groce said.
After Kent State took the lead on a slam dunk by Evans, it tightened the defense on Ohio as the Bobcats went scoreless for a span of 2:33. Freeman ended the dry spell when he hit a three-pointer with1:08 remaining to get the ‘Cats to 68-64.
But OU would get no further as KSU made six-of-eight free throws down the stretch to secure victory finish a sweep of the season series with the Bobcats.
“I thought we really guarded well down the stretch. We weren’t great throughout the game. (But) from the possession that they went up by eight, they did not get an uncontested shot” Ford said.
Both teams will host ESPNU Bracket Busters games Saturday. Kent State will face Western Carolina out of the Southern Conference while Ohio hosts Wright State from the Horizon League.
NOTES: The game was the 128 lifetime meeting with the Bobcats holding an 86-42 advantage…Kent State has won nine of the last eleven meetings…Justin Greene-KSU collected his fifth double-double of the season and scored in double-digits for the third time in the last four games…Chris Singletary-KSU scored in double-digits for the fourth straight game and sixth in the last seven…Kent State is 33-3 in their last 36 MAC home games…Armond Bassett-OHIO hit double-digits for the fifth straight game and eight in the last nine…Kent State Athletic Director Dr. Laing Kennedy was honored at halftime for his career at KSU. He will be retiring at the end of this academic year.
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