by It was a Tuesday night MACtion battle in Kent, OH between the 12-7 Kent State Golden Flashes and the 7-12 Bowling Green Falcons.
The game started off with a quick bang after back-to-back possessions led to buckets for the Golden Flashes as they led 5-0 quickly. After a couple of back and fortieth sloppy possessions between the Falcons and Flashes, Trey Thomas got going for Bowling Green scoring 5 points and eventually tied up the game at 5.
VonCameron Davis led the way for the Flashes through the first four minutes with a physical 4 points to help give them a 7-5 lead at the under-16 timeout.
It would be Jared Sullinger finally getting in on the action for Kent State scoring back-to-back layups on drives to the buckets.
As for Bowling Green, it would be a mix of guys to get in on the scoring to help them trail just 13-12 at the under-12 timeout in the first half.
But it would only be so long until Kent State went on a run, and boy did they.
Thanks to VonCameron Davis continuing his scoring with ease, Cian Medley with his amazing 5 assists, and back-to-back three’s by Marquis Barnett, it did not matter what Bowling Green was doing.
Kent State managed to take a 26-15 lead and force Bowling Green to take their first timeout with 8:04 left in the first half.
Coming out of their timeout, it looked like Bowling Green was going to make a serious run at coming all the way back as they responded with a 6-0 run of their own.
But thanks to some self-inflicted wounds by the Falcons with their 6 team fouls along with 7 total turnovers, Kent State was able to get their lead right back up to 32-21 at the under-4 timeout in the first half.
Kent State was far from done as they managed to go on a 9-2 run to end the first half thanks to VonCameron Davis scoring a total of 14 of his 24 points in the first half alone.
It was very fitting for the Flashes as they completely dominated the first half leading 41-23 and nearly dominated every area on the floor including the turnover battle, bench production, and scoring inside the paint.
It looked like Bowling Green’s first possession of the half which ended in a turnover would be a sign of things to come for the Falcons, but Kent State just came out flat in the second half.
In fact, they surpassed their first half total of 4 team fouls accounting for 5 fouls in just the first two minutes of the second half. But luckily for Kent State, Bowling Green just could not buy a bucket and continued to shoot very poorly from the floor.
The Golden Flashes lead grew to 20 by just the first media timeout of the second half leading 47-27.
With the 20 point lead, Kent State may have took their foot off the gas just a little bit by settling for more three’s and getting sloppy with passes on offense. They would score just two points in 3:30 of game time, but the Flashes still managed to have a 49-31 lead with 12:33 left in the game.
This showed you how abysmal the Falcons offense was as they started off the second half shooting 4-for-12 including 0-for-5 from beyond the 3-point line.
The next few minutes were the most back and fourth we have seen since early on to start the game. Kent State kept their scoring going thanks to Jalen Sullinger who had 18 points.
While Bowling Green’s offense was only going thanks to big-man Marcus Johnson whose secret weapon was his ability to shoot the three ball. He had eyes on him all night long as he led the Falcons in scoring with 21 points, including going 4-for-9 from deep.
Outside of Johnson, not much happened for the Bowling Green offense besides Javontae Campbell contributing 16 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 steals.
The Flashes biggest lead of the night grew to 25 with 8:48 left to play, and although they were not able to maintain that lead to end the game, it was still an all-around dominant win for the Flashes.
With four different players scoring in double digits, it was no figure why the Flashes dominated so bad.
VonCameron Davis led the way with his 24 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. Jalen Sullinger followed up with 18 points, Cian Medley had a double-double of his own with 12 points and 10 assists, and sophomore Marquis Barnett racked up 10 points of his own.
Kent State would end up dominating Bowling Green with a final score of 75-57 as the Golden Flashes improve to 13-7 on the season ahead of a big home match-up against Akron on Friday night.
