Malique Jacobs scored the first seven points for the Golden Flashes and scored 19 in the first half as the Flashes took a 35-34 lead at the break. The Flashes led by as many as seven points in the opening half.
The Flashes relinquished the lead on Southern Utah's first possession of the second half and the Thunderbirds kept the lead for the next 14 minutes. Kent State never trailed by more than six points during the stretch but couldn't grab the lead until Jacobs drilled a jumper to take a 65-64 lead with 6:38 to play.
SUU answered just 27 second later and kept the Flashes from taking back the lead for the remainder of the game. The Golden Flashes led for just 45 second in the second half.
Jacobs had a career night for the Flashes, scoring a career-high 28 points and adding five assists. He was 8-for-16 from the field, including a career-high three made three-pointers. Jalen Sullinger added a Division-I opponent high 16 points on 4-for-7 from beyond the arc to spark the Flashes off the bench.
Andrew Garcia added 13 points and five boards, while Sincere Carry recorded his 30th double-digit scoring effort of the season with 10 points. Carry also broke the Kent State single season record for minutes played with 1,244 minutes in 34 games. He breaks Trevor Huffman's record of 1,211 minutes played during the historic 36-game 2001-02 Elite Eight season.
Carry finished the season with 609 total points, the fifth-most in program history. He also finished with 162 assists on the season which ranks fourth most all-time in a single season.