 KENT STATE 72, FAIRFIELD 68 NEXT STOP - COLORADO
The victory sets up a meeting at Colorado on Tuesday night with a trip to the NIT final four in Madison Square Garden on the line. Game time is 9:00 p.m. and the contest can be seen live on ESPN.
“We are going to have spring break in Colorado,” Kent State coach Geno Ford said. “(My players) weren’t going anywhere anyway, so we are excited to keep our basketball family together and keep this thing going.”
HOLT PACES KSU SCORING
Sophomore guard Randal Holt scored 22 points and junior guard Carlton Guyton added 16 as Kent State became the first school to win its first two games of the tournament on the road since the NIT went to its current 32-team format in 2007. Junior guard Michael Porrini was also in double figures with 11 points.
“That’s the good thing about our team. We have four or five guys that can go off at any time,” said Holt, who made 8 of 12 shots, including 4-for-7 from 3-point range. “You never know who it’s going to be.”
The Golden Flashes (25-11) took control of a tight game in which neither team led by more than eight points with a 6-0 burst midway through the season half. Junior Justin Manns capped off the spurt with dunk for two of his 10 points to give Kent State a 58-52 lead with 9:08 remaining.
Fairfield (25-8), the 2011 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular season champions, cut the lead back down to 60-58 with 6:52 left, but another 6-0 burst by the Golden Flashes kept them in front and opened up the largest lead of the game.
Senior guard Rodriquez Sherman capped off the second 6-0 spurt of the half by driving down the lane for a dunk over Fairfield’s 7’0” center, Ryan Olander, for an eight-point (66-58) advantage with 4:19 remaining.
FLASHES FREE THROWS - BETTER LATE THAN NEVER?
The Stags fought back once again, but Kent State, which had not shot a free throw the entire game to that point, made 4-5 from the line in the final 45 seconds to seal its sixth win in the last seven games.
After shooting just 19 percent his previous two games, Fairfield’s Derek Needham hit almost everything in the first half, scoring 18 of his 20 points as the teams went into the break tied at 35. Olander had 15 points and Yorek Hawkins finished with 11 for the Stags,who shot 45.0 percent for the game, but 26.9 percent (7-26) from three.
Fairfield entered second in the nation with only 57.9 points allowed, but Kent State’s full-court offense dictated the tempo. The Golden Flashes shot 50 percent in both halves, finishing the game 30-of-60, and making 8-of-19 three-pointers.
NOTES:
• Justin Greene had a team high eight rebounds to become the first Kent State player since Trent Grooms in 1979-80 to grab over 300 rebounds in a season.
• Sherman played in his school record 136th career game. Sherman passed the previous mark of 135 held by assistant coach Jordan Mincy (2005-09).
• Holt connected on 11-of-20 from three over the last three games.
Courtesy of Kent State Athletics |
