by Kent, OH; It was game two between the Kent State Golden Flashes and the Eastern Michigan Eagles. Round one featured Kent State walking away with a 76-75 road win taking two overtimes to get it done. This time around, the Golden Flashes were able to get it done 95-91 in regulation as they improve to 18-7 on the season, including 9-3 in the MAC. “Great win for us bouncing back from a disappointing loss over the weekend,” head coach Rob Senderoff said following the game.
Morgan Safford led the way with 23 points, and three rebounds. Delrecco Gillespie followed up with 15 points, and 12 rebounds for his 20th double-double of the season. While Jahari Williamson finished with 15 points, and one steal himself.
If Kent State can’t play defense, it’s safe to say they heavily rely on their offense to pull them out of games. It was exactly that tonight as they allowed over 90 points to Eastern Michigan who came in averaging just 70.7 points per game. But the depth showed as the bench scored 21 points compared to Eastern’s goose egg from their side.
Things started off back and forth game early on with the Golden Flashes holding a small advantage halfway through the first half. But Eastern Michigan would change things around as they took a 47-40 lead going into halftime completely shocking the home crowd. Despite the Golden Flashes forcing eight turnovers, they were being out-rebounded 21-6, and were allowing 64% of shots to fall from the field.
The Eagles would keep their momentum going to begin the second half building up a double digit lead at 61-51. It was an absolute takeover led by Addison Patterson who finished with 32 points on the night off 14-19 shooting. But Kent State would refuse to go down to easy as some very important minutes led by Magnus Entenmann ignited the offense to cut their deficit down to 70-65. With 7:33 left in the game, the home team was clawing their way back.
In fact, a 15-8 run ending with a game-leading three by Quinn Woidke would give the Golden Flashes an 80-78 with 3:39 to go. It was really all thanks to the improvement in rebounding throughout the second half, as they out-rebounded Eastern Michigan 20-10.
Things were still looking really close late with Kent up just 84-83. But an and-one from Safford would help ignite the offense through the end. With an 87-83 lead and a huge defensive stop, the fans were loud on their feet with just 1:17 left, helping the Golden Flashes close it out.
Knocking down the free throws all but did it for the Eagles as it would be just too late for any last second magic. Kent State pulled it out with a 95-91 win in the end, and they next head to Ball State for a Saturday afternoon affair.
