 Rodriguez Sherman of Kent State. File image. An overflow crowd of 5,545 watched Kent State easily defeat the Akron Zips 74-61 in a showdown for the regular season MAC Championship. It was just the fourth outright title in school history.
Kent State (23-8, 13-3 MAC) swept the season series from their arch rivals from just down Ohio Route 59. The Flashes closed the regular season by winning five consecutive games and 13 of their last 14 dating back to January 20.
“I thought we played really, really well tonight.” KSU head coach Geno Ford said after the game. “I’m happy for our kids. We have grinded all year.”
KSU will be the top seed in the 2010 First Energy MAC Men’s Basketball Tournament and plays their first game at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland on Thursday against the winner of the Ball State-Ohio game..
Akron (22-9, 12-4 MAC) saw its seven-game conference winning streak, and three-game overall winning skein at home come to an end. The Zips are the third seed and Thursday will face the winner of the Eastern Michigan-Northern Illinois game.
“They played well but that is the first time in my six years here we got beat that bad at home” Zips head man Keith Dambrot said afterwards. “The score was not indicative on how bad they beat us tonight. I wished it was a much better game for our fans because they deserve better than that.”
Senior reserve Anthony Simpson scored a career best 23 points with 15 coming in the second half. The native of Rockford, Illinois connected on 9-of-13 shots from the field and four-of-four from the free throw line along with nine rebounds and two steals.
“He (Simpson) has had some big games for us in the past, but with a game of this magnitude, that was a big time performance” Ford said.
Fourth-year junior Rodriguez Sherman added 15 points, 11 coming in the second half, and five assists. Senior forward Chris Singletary had 11 points and three steals, even though he was in foul trouble for a majority of the game.
“We showed a lot of character being able to win the championship game on the road” Singletary said. “This game showed the toughness of our team and the toughness of the Kent State program.”
Jimmy Conyers, in his final home game, led the Zips with 18 points and was the only UA player in double figures.
In their first meeting back on January 23 at the MAC Center, KSU used a 19-0 run in the second half en route to an 87-70 victory over the Zips.
Another big run Friday – this one in the first half – put the Flashes in the driver’s seat again. The battle for the top spot in the conference was decided midway through the first half as the Golden Flashes used a 14-1 run to take the lead (19-12) for good when Sherman came down the lane for a layup at the 8:26 mark.
From that point on, the game was Kent State’s to lose. After KSU opened the game going just 2-of-10 from the floor in the first five minutes, it went 12-for-23 the remainder of the half.
KSU’s lead was as much as nine points on two occasions, the last being 29-20 at the 2:28 mark on a layup by freshman guard Randal Holt. The visitors went into halftime with an eight-point advantage, 31-23.
Akron did not help themselves in the first 20 minutes as they shot just 26.9 percent from the floor (7-for-26), including just 1-for-9 from three-point range. In addition, the Zips turned the ball over 11 times.
As the second half began, Akron got a basket from Nikola Cvetinovic and a Conyers free throw to close the deficit to seven 33-26 with 18:19 remaining. That, however, would be the closest UA would get for the remainder of the game. KSU put the game away with a 17-5 run to open a 19-point lead 51-30 at the 14:44 mark on a Simpson slam dunk.
“I didn’t want to let my teammates down tonight” Simpson said. “I was unconscious tonight”
From there, the two teams pretty much traded baskets as KSU shot a sizzling 64 percent in the second half (16-for-25) and finished the game at 51.7 percent (30-for-58).
“Our coaches said to just keep attacking” Sherman said. “We were trying our best on defense to get consecutive stops and execute on offense.”
Akron also shot the ball better after intermission, hitting an even 50 percent (13-for-26), but their final number was 38.5% (20-for-52).
“We had no discipline tonight” Dambrot said. “Our shot selection tonight was awful. We took bad shots. We did not play as a team. They were a much better team than we were in both games”
Another key for the Zips problems was the play of Brett and Chris McKnight. During the season, Dambrot said the play of both of them would be a barometer for the game. On this night, Brett, who averaged a team-high 10.5 points per game coming in, had just four points. Chris, one of the leaders on the squad, had eight points and eight rebounds.
KSU won the rebound battle 36-30, forced Akron into 17 turnovers and had nine steals as they defeated their arch rivals for the third consecutive time and sixth in the last seven meetings.
“The hardest championship to win is the regular season one. … (After) a 16-game grind and going 13-3, we will enjoy (it) for a day or two” Ford said.
The only time in the tournament these two teams could meet again would be in the Championship Game.
NOTES: The game was the 129th lifetime meeting between the two schools with Kent State holding a 68-61 advantage…Akron finished the season 13-4 at home (6-2 in MAC play)…Kent State finished 9-5 on the road best in the MAC…Chris Singletary-KSU has scored in double figures in eight straight games and 10 of his last 11…Kent State wore black jerseys with blue letters and numerals with gold trim the last time they wore that was against Akron last season and won…The game was nationally televised on ESPNS2…KSU Athletic Director Dr. Laing Kennedy was honored during the game by UA Athletic Director Tom Wistrcill for his 16 years of service. Kennedy will be retiring after this academic year.
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