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Kent State (20-8) on Wednesday night came back from eight-points down in the second half to defeat Ohio 74-67 in a crucial Mid-American Conference Eastern Division matchup to stay tied with Akron atop the standings in the East.

“Give them a lot of credit tonight.” KSU head coach Geno Ford said after the game. “They out-toughed us they out-scrapped us. But Chris (Singletary) and Justin (Greene) just (weren’t) going to let us lose.”

The victory gave Kent State 20 wins on the season for the 11th time in the last 12 campaigns. It also improved the Flashes home record to 12-2. Western Carolina (19-10) suffered its fifth loss in the last six games.

“I thought it was a really good college basketball game” said Catamounts head coach Larry Hunter, whose team is battling for a first-round bye in the upcoming Southern Conference Tournament. “I’m very proud of our team tonight. They competed very, very well. We had our swagger back.”

“We won two this week against two pretty good teams” Ford said. “They (WCU) won at Louisville by 20 earlier in the season, so they were not going to be intimidated by coming in here. We were going to have to make plays to beat them.”

With the visitors, scoring six straight points to take a 62-56 lead and 4:07 remaining, the Golden Flashes went on a 15-2 run. Chris Singletary’s two free throws put KSU up 71-64 with 51.4 seconds remaining.

For those who felt the game was over at that stage, they should have thought again, as the Catamounts hit on a pair of three-pointers to narrow the Kent State lead to 72-70 with 5.6 seconds remaining. Mike Williams provided the first from the top of the arc. The second came from Jake Robinson from the right arc

When sophomore forward Justin Greene connected on both free throws with 5.2 seconds remaining, the home fans again felt this one was in the KSU win column. But WCU just would not go away and a coast-to-coast layup by forward Richie Gordon cut the deficit to two with just 1.5 seconds remaining.

Both teams then called a time out. Kent State called theirs after having trouble getting the ball back into play. But on the final inbound, Greene got the ball and ran out the clock as Kent State escaped with the victory.

Greene, a native of Brooklyn, New York, led all scorers with 21 points, going 6-for-9 from the field and 9-for-9 from the free throw line while pulling down nine rebounds to lead KSU in that category.

“He (Greene) is a very nice player. He has very good hands and balance and a very good touch around the basket” Hunter said.

Three other Kent State players scored in double figures with senior guard Tyree Evans scoring 14 points (12 coming on three-pointers) while Singletary and Sherman each had 11.

“The tougher team wins, and we just dug down and grinded it out tonight to get the victory” Sherman said. “Every game is going to be like that (from here on out), and we know that”

Gordon led WCU with 16 points and eight rebounds, as well as two assists, a blocked shot, and a steal. Brandon Giles and Williams each added 11.

Kent State started the game strong opening a 10-5 lead at the at the 16:19 mark of the first half on a layup by Singletary.

After WCU tied the score 10-10 when Harouna Mutombo hit a three-pointer from the left side of the arc at the 14:08 mark, KSU scored 10 unanswered points to open its largest lead 20-10 at the 11:28 mark on a bank-shot jumper by reserve Brandon Parks.

Kent State held the lead for the remainder of the first half, but the Catamounts chipped away, outscoring KSU 17-8 to close to within one-point 28-27 at the 3:31 mark on a steal and layup by Williams.

After four consecutive four points by Evans to push the lead back out to five 32-27 at the 2:37 mark, Western Carolina reduced the lead to 34-33 at the break.

KSU held that slim lead despite hitting 56.5% from the field (13-for-23) but was only 4-for-8 from the free throw line. WCU, meanwhile, was only 12-for-29 from the floor in the game’s first 20 minutes but held a 16-14 rebound edge and was 7-of-9 from the 15-foot line.

At the start of the second half, the visitors from Cullowhee, North Carolina (a town nestled in the Smoky Mountains) went on a 10-3 run to take their first lead of the game 43-37 with 15:55 remaining when guard Keaton Cole hit a three from the left side of the arc.

Kent State battled back, outscoring WCU 11-6 to regain the lead 50-49 on a Sherman layup with 10:21 remaining.

The Catamounts pushed the lead back out to six two more times -the first being 56-50 on a driving layup by Gordon with 6:55 remaining and then at 62-56 with 4:07 remaining when Mutombo scored on a driving layup.

Kent State’s final push for vjctory came thanks to Greene and Singletary. Greene started the rally with a short jumper close to the basket and then added a pair of free throws. Singletary tied the game after a steal by Sherman for a layup and a foul. He could not convert on the three-point play. However, his three-pointer from the left side of the arc gave the Golden Flashes a lead they would not relinquish.

Statistically, the teams played to a near stalemate in the second half, with Kent State shooting just under 50 percent from the field (14-for-29), but finishing the contest at 51.9% (27-for-52). The hosts were just 10-for-15 from the foul line. WCU was 15-for-32 from the floor but  only 3-for-10 from the stripe.

The rebound battle evened up at 34-34 but a key in the second half was Kent State turning the ball over a mere three times. WCU gave it up just four times.

Since Bracketbusters began in 2003, Kent State is 6-2, including five consecutive wins beating the likes of Creighton, Butler, George Mason, and Saint Mary’s (CA) over the years.

For Kent State, it’s back to MAC play on Wednesday night when they travel to Bowling Green to face the Falcons before returning to the MAC Center on Saturday night for the final regular-season home game against Miami.

Western Carolina returns home to complete its Southern Conference schedule against Samford and Chattanooga.

NOTES: KSU and WCU met last season for their only other lifetime meeting, with the Catamounts picking up an 86-84 overtime win at the MAC Center…Kent State is 3-0 against the Southern Conference this season (defeating Samford and Wofford and has a 10-2 lifetime mark against the SoCon…Justin Greene-KSU hit the 20-point plateau for the sixth time this season and scored in double-figures in four of the last five games…Chris Singletary-KSU scored in double figures for the fifth straight game and seven in the last eight…Tyree Evans-KSU moved into 11th  place on the schools all-time three-point list with120..Brandon Giles-WCU has scored in double figures in six of the last seven games…Western Carolina’s 19 wins so far this season are the most since the school moved into Division I and the most since 1981-82…KSU head coach Geno Ford is 1-1 lifetime against WCU head man Larry Hunter. Ford played for Hunter at Ohio and also was an assistant coach on his staff for three seasons.