by Kent, OH; Kent State gets the best of Cleveland State for the second time in seven days, winning 91-71 for the Golden Flashes sixth win in a row. It was a regional rivalry between the Cleveland State Vikings and the Kent State Golden Flashes after last Saturday’s matchup came down to the wire with a 102-95 win by Kent State at the 2025 Greenbrier Tip-Off. “I felt like it was good for us that we played them twice,” Cian Medley said about playing the Vikings twice in seven days. “You know, going into conference play we have to play some teams twice.”
Head coach Rob Senderoff was pleased with the outcome from the afternoon but still wants a full 40 minutes from the defense. “Good for us to get another win, we continue to play well offensively,” Senderoff said postgame. Today the Golden Flashes were led by Medley who put up 21 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists. Morgan Safford followed behind with 17 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists. While Delrecco Gillespie had yet another double-double putting up 12 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Gillespie now has a double-double in each game this season after being picked to be on the preseason All-MAC first team.
A total of five players scored in double digits on the afternoon including Jahari Williamson and Quinn Woidke who both walked away with 3 three pointers each. “I feel like that right there just comes from the work that we put in,” Medley said. “I feel like we are definitely a very deep team, we have a lot of bigs and a lot of guards, so that’s going to be an advantage we have all year.”
The game started off as a tight matchup in which Kent State led 16-12 with 11:38 left in the half. But that would only be until the Golden Flashes pulled away with a 26-13 run to end the first half. It was all about the domination on the boards, highly contested shots by the defense, and playing fast offensively. Kent had an edge in rebounds (23-12), blocks (5-1), assists (12-4), bench points (11-6), and even fast break points (12-5). With a 42-25 halftime lead, the defense was setting the tone allowing Cleveland State to shoot just 39%. “Jahari’s defense in the first half helped us a great deal in terms of getting a big lead at halftime.” Senderoff said.
The Vikings came out of halftime on a 7-0 run, but the Golden Flashes responded right back with a 20-5 run of their own to open up a 65-50 lead with 11:02 left in the game. Cleveland State did pick it up offensively the rest of the way though as they shot 52% in the second half compared to just 39% in the first. Despite the second half being rather close, the first half deficit was just too much to overcome for the Vikings. Kent State went on to outscore Cleveland State 22-16 the rest of the way as the Golden Flashes proved that they simply wanted it more on their home floor. The 91-71 win makes it six in a row for a red hot Kent team who has not lost since opening night.
