By Evan Meyer
CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Kent State Golden Flashes advanced to the semi-finals of the 2018 Mid-American Conference Basketball Tournament with a 76-73 victory over the Ball State Cardinals Thursday afternoon at Quicken Loans Arena.
Kent State (17-16) was trailing by two, 69-67, with 2:27 remaining after the Cardinals Zach Dunn connected on a 3-pointer from the left arc. Senior Kevin Zabo, however, hit both ends of a one-and-one free throw to tie the game 69-all.
The free throws started a stretch of five Kent State makes on six attempts from the free throw line. That enabled KSU to stave off a final surge by Ball State (19-13) and set up a meeting with Buffalo for a third time this season.
"It was a hard fought win.” KSU head coach Rob Senderoff said. “We have a never say die attitude. We made enough plays on both ends of the court to come out with the win.”
Junior Jaylin Walker led four KSU players in double figures with 19 points. Junior Adonis De La Rosa added 17 points (going 13-of-16 from the free throw line) with 10 rebounds. Zabo and junior Jalen Avery each scored 16 with Zabo adding seven boards and six assists.
The Cardinals, who battled Toledo for the Western Division title until the final days of the season, finish the campaign on a four-game losing streak.
“It was a really hard fought game.” BSU head man James Whitford said. “We put ourselves in a position to win the game five, six, seven times. It was a play here and a play there that decided it.”
BSU was led by junior Tayler Persons, who matched Walker for game high honors with 19 points, adding six rebounds and five assists to his totals. Zach Gunn came off the bench to score 15, hitting all five of his shots from 3-point range. Sophomore Tajhai Teague had 17 with 12 boards.
In this third meeting between the two, the Flashes used a 14-2 run to take a 19-10 lead at the 11:30 mark on two free throws by De La Rosa. KSU would hold a lead for the remainder of the half.
The Cardinals pecked away at their deficit, closing to within one point (25-24) at the 5:20 mark on a three from the right corner by Dunn.
With the Flashes holding a 34-29 lead on a three from the left arc by Walker, BSU went on a 10-3 spurt to take a 39-37 lead on a pair of free throws by Teague. However Zabo scored on a driving layup with 14.6 ticks left to send the teams tied at halftime 39-39.
BSU took the lead 43-41 early in the secocnd half on a driving layup by sophomore Kyle Mallers. KSU regained the advantage on two free throws by De La Rosa and engineered a 10-point lead on two occasions -- the last being 63-53 on a driving layup by Zabo at the 8:55 mark.
BSU countered with an 11-2 run to close the margin to a single point 65-64 on a follow up slam dunk by Teague at the 4:46 mark.
From then on, the game see-sawed back-and-forth. The Flashes final field goal of the game was a driving layup by Avery with 22.5 seconds remaining. The Cards final punches came from Persons, who scored on a put-back of his own miss with at the 3.1 second mark.
Walker was then fouled by Persons at the 1.9 seconds mark., He hit the second of two free throws to make the score 76-73. BSU’s last gasp came from Moses who took a desperation three as time expires and the Flashes won the rubber game of the series with the Cards.
NOTES:
CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Kent State Golden Flashes advanced to the semi-finals of the 2018 Mid-American Conference Basketball Tournament with a 76-73 victory over the Ball State Cardinals Thursday afternoon at Quicken Loans Arena.
Kent State (17-16) was trailing by two, 69-67, with 2:27 remaining after the Cardinals Zach Dunn connected on a 3-pointer from the left arc. Senior Kevin Zabo, however, hit both ends of a one-and-one free throw to tie the game 69-all.
The free throws started a stretch of five Kent State makes on six attempts from the free throw line. That enabled KSU to stave off a final surge by Ball State (19-13) and set up a meeting with Buffalo for a third time this season.
"It was a hard fought win.” KSU head coach Rob Senderoff said. “We have a never say die attitude. We made enough plays on both ends of the court to come out with the win.”
Junior Jaylin Walker led four KSU players in double figures with 19 points. Junior Adonis De La Rosa added 17 points (going 13-of-16 from the free throw line) with 10 rebounds. Zabo and junior Jalen Avery each scored 16 with Zabo adding seven boards and six assists.
The Cardinals, who battled Toledo for the Western Division title until the final days of the season, finish the campaign on a four-game losing streak.
“It was a really hard fought game.” BSU head man James Whitford said. “We put ourselves in a position to win the game five, six, seven times. It was a play here and a play there that decided it.”
BSU was led by junior Tayler Persons, who matched Walker for game high honors with 19 points, adding six rebounds and five assists to his totals. Zach Gunn came off the bench to score 15, hitting all five of his shots from 3-point range. Sophomore Tajhai Teague had 17 with 12 boards.
In this third meeting between the two, the Flashes used a 14-2 run to take a 19-10 lead at the 11:30 mark on two free throws by De La Rosa. KSU would hold a lead for the remainder of the half.
The Cardinals pecked away at their deficit, closing to within one point (25-24) at the 5:20 mark on a three from the right corner by Dunn.
With the Flashes holding a 34-29 lead on a three from the left arc by Walker, BSU went on a 10-3 spurt to take a 39-37 lead on a pair of free throws by Teague. However Zabo scored on a driving layup with 14.6 ticks left to send the teams tied at halftime 39-39.
BSU took the lead 43-41 early in the secocnd half on a driving layup by sophomore Kyle Mallers. KSU regained the advantage on two free throws by De La Rosa and engineered a 10-point lead on two occasions -- the last being 63-53 on a driving layup by Zabo at the 8:55 mark.
BSU countered with an 11-2 run to close the margin to a single point 65-64 on a follow up slam dunk by Teague at the 4:46 mark.
From then on, the game see-sawed back-and-forth. The Flashes final field goal of the game was a driving layup by Avery with 22.5 seconds remaining. The Cards final punches came from Persons, who scored on a put-back of his own miss with at the 3.1 second mark.
Walker was then fouled by Persons at the 1.9 seconds mark., He hit the second of two free throws to make the score 76-73. BSU’s last gasp came from Moses who took a desperation three as time expires and the Flashes won the rubber game of the series with the Cards.
NOTES:
- Thursday's decision was the fifth consecutive Kent State game that has been decided either by one-possession or in overtime. When asked about the close calls, Senderoff said “These guys are tough. They are resilient and they compete. We have a firm belief that we are going to find a way to win.”
- From the final stat sheet, neither team shot the ball particularly well. KSU ended the game at 40 percent from the field (24-of-60) and Ball State was only 26-of-69 for 367.7%.
- One key to the Flashes victory was its free throw shooting. They went to the line 28 times, making 20. BSU held a decisive rebounding edge 46-39. There were only 17 turnovers between the two teams in the contest.
- KSU will carry a six-game tournament winning streak forward, dating back to last season.
- Buffalo and Kent State split the two regular season meetings, with each winning each on its home court.
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