by It was another Tuesday night edition of MACtion. This one possibly being the biggest one of the night with seeding for the MAC tournament being on the line. As the Kent State Golden Flashes hosted the Toledo Rockets in Kent, OH.
The Golden Flashes came in with an overall record of 18-9, and a conference record of 8-6. While the Rockets came in with an overall record of 16-11, and a conference record of 9-5. A win for Kent State would push them ahead of Toledo in the standings.
And boy did Kent State do more than that. The Golden Flashes went on to drop a season-high 105 points thanks to 5 different players scoring in double digits. It was all led by senior VonCameron Davis who dropped 21 points in the blowout win.
Redshirt sophomore Jamal Sumlin followed with 20 points of his own with 6 rebounds and 7 assists to go along with it. Senior Marquis Barnett finished with 19, junior Delrecco Gillespie with 16, and senior Cli’Ron Hornbeak with 13 to round out the double digit scoring for Kent State.
With a lot on the line, the game started off very tight and back and forth for the most part. By the first media timeout of the game, Toledo held a narrow 9-7 lead.
But the Golden Flashes would then take over the rest of the game. Kent State managed to go on a whopping 22-3 run and hold a 29-12 lead with 10:42 left in the first half.
The run was led by Barnett who had 10 points and really got the crowd going on the run with a powerful two-hand slam. Kent State was red hot from the floor too going 8-for-12 on the run, including 4-for-7 from three.
The runs would not seem to end for the Golden Flashes. As soon as one ended, another one started. Kent State went on a 15-4 run continuing to grow their lead even more. It was complete domination as Toledo was struggling to find answers throughout the half.
After Toledo used their second timeout of the half, they still found themselves trailing 16-44. The Rockets defense was not there tonight as Kent State shot another 60% on the run. On top of that, it seemed like Toledo could not get a rebound to save their life.
Toledo finally got it going to end the half as they went on a 14-10 run. Nearly doubling their first half total in just the final 5 minutes alone.
Ultimately, it was all Kent State in the first half holding a 54-30 lead. The Golden Flashes were shooting 55%, 40% from three, out rebounded Toledo 22-12, and had 3 players with double digits in just the first half alone.
The second half was much more of a close game, at least to start. Toledo started off on a 16-14 run shooting 58%, much better compared to their 37% in the first half.
But despite the more physical defense, it did not matter for Kent State. They kept their hot night on offense going, shooting a whopping 72% while getting their lead up to 28 at 74-46 with 11:31 left in the game.
Much like the first half, Toledo just flat out struggled after starting off the half. The Rockets fell flat on their face getting outscored 31-19 the rest of the way. They were once again outscored and rebounded by the Golden Flashes in the second half.
Kent State finished the second half outscoring Toledo 51-35 while shooting a whopping 62.9% as the Rockets just had no answers.
One bright spot on the night for Toledo was was sophomore Sam Lewis who had 17 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, and one block on the night.
The dominating 105-65 win for Kent State was not one many expected tonight. With the Ohio Bobcats losing tonight as well, the Golden Flashes are officially tied for 3rd in the MAC with a conference record of 9-6, and overall record of 19-9.
