Kent State vs. Bucknell
Men's Basketball
SECOND HALF
0:00 … A disappointing finish to what was really a pretty disappointing game if you are a Kent State fan. The Flashes lose 66-59 in what was a pretty miserable shooting effort.
Talking with Rob Senderoff after the game he said several guys had off nights at the same time, and too often they tried to make up for mistakes or their struggles with what he called "hero" shots.
Goodson led with 18 points, but its hard for this team to click offensively if anyone shoots 17 times.
The Flashes were never able to get anything going inside, and that led to Henniger going scoreless on just three shot attempts. He didn't get to the foul line, where he was 35-for-35 on the home stand. But he was active with a career-high 18 rebounds. Talking to Eric Haut afterwards, and some of that was the way Bucknell defended in that they pack it in and don't really try to chase the pick and roll that has been so effective for Henniger this season. But the Flashes never did try to sustain any inside action, instead settling for almost 30 threes … and only hitting 25-percent from beyond the arc.
0:44.3 ... Bucknell doing everything it can to keep Kent State in it ... two missed free throws and a travel on the last two possessions ... But Kent State hasn't been able to do anything on the other end.
Brewer tried to draw a foul with a take to the hole ... no call... and Goodson with a missed three from the right corner.
Must-score possession here.
2:56 ... Flashes trail 59-55 but have the ball under their own basket coming out of this timeout.
Kent State had tied it before an Ayers three for Bucknell. Goodson hit a turnaround in the lane drawing a foul, but missed the free throw that could have tied it ... that led to another Ayers three and this four-point lead.
The Flashes need to score here and capitalize on a big break after Brian Fitzpatrick missed a wide open layup on the previous possession.
6:59 ... Bucknell took a lead on a 15-0 run, but Goodson with a driving layup in transition and a transition three, and Flashes back within two points at 53-51.
Goodson on a solo 6-0 run after Flashes fell behind by 8 points.
10:17 ... The Flashes have squandered the 7-point lead they had built at the 15:16 mark.
Bucknell is on an 11-0 run. Flashes taking bad shots and look a little flat-footed on defense.
15:28 ... Kris Brewer with a nice start to the half. He just stood his ground to draw a charge. He also has a pair of long jumpers coming off of screens.
Talking with Rob Senderoff after the game he said several guys had off nights at the same time, and too often they tried to make up for mistakes or their struggles with what he called "hero" shots.
Goodson led with 18 points, but its hard for this team to click offensively if anyone shoots 17 times.
The Flashes were never able to get anything going inside, and that led to Henniger going scoreless on just three shot attempts. He didn't get to the foul line, where he was 35-for-35 on the home stand. But he was active with a career-high 18 rebounds. Talking to Eric Haut afterwards, and some of that was the way Bucknell defended in that they pack it in and don't really try to chase the pick and roll that has been so effective for Henniger this season. But the Flashes never did try to sustain any inside action, instead settling for almost 30 threes … and only hitting 25-percent from beyond the arc.
0:44.3 ... Bucknell doing everything it can to keep Kent State in it ... two missed free throws and a travel on the last two possessions ... But Kent State hasn't been able to do anything on the other end.
Brewer tried to draw a foul with a take to the hole ... no call... and Goodson with a missed three from the right corner.
Must-score possession here.
2:56 ... Flashes trail 59-55 but have the ball under their own basket coming out of this timeout.
Kent State had tied it before an Ayers three for Bucknell. Goodson hit a turnaround in the lane drawing a foul, but missed the free throw that could have tied it ... that led to another Ayers three and this four-point lead.
The Flashes need to score here and capitalize on a big break after Brian Fitzpatrick missed a wide open layup on the previous possession.
6:59 ... Bucknell took a lead on a 15-0 run, but Goodson with a driving layup in transition and a transition three, and Flashes back within two points at 53-51.
Goodson on a solo 6-0 run after Flashes fell behind by 8 points.
10:17 ... The Flashes have squandered the 7-point lead they had built at the 15:16 mark.
Bucknell is on an 11-0 run. Flashes taking bad shots and look a little flat-footed on defense.
15:28 ... Kris Brewer with a nice start to the half. He just stood his ground to draw a charge. He also has a pair of long jumpers coming off of screens.
Goodson may have rediscovered his touch with a pretty backdown jumper from the left block.
And a Kellon Thomas three coming out of the break has kicked the lead to 45-38
FIRST HALF
0:00 ... K.K. Simmons with a big spark off the bench has helped Kent State to a 31-29 lead at halftime.
Bucknell held a 6-point lead just before Simmons checked in late. The guard turned in several key plays - an on-the-floor steal while rotating to help against a screen, three from the left wing, and a tough defensive rebound in traffic
Goodson leads the Flashes with 8 points on 3-for-10 shooting.
Henniger has yet to score for the Flashes, but he has 6 rebounds.
Derek Jackson has done a nice job on Ayers. Bucknell's top scorer (15 per game) has yet to hit a shot from the field and has just two points from the line.
Flashes still outscoring Bucknell in the paint 12-10 despite taking more than half of their shots from three-point range.
3:50 ... Flashes falling in love a bit with the three. They aren't necessarily bad threes, but its hard sometimes to remember that the first open look isn't necessarily the best look you can get in a possession. It seems like the Flashes are finding that first shot from the deep right corner in front of the Bucknell bench, and right now the Bison is happy to give them that shot.
KSU is 3-for-14 from three. Bucknell is 5-of-9, with Brackney leading the way with 12 on 4-of-5 shooting from three. He hit one just a few minutes ago over the wingspan of the 6-9 Khaliq Spicer.
7:53 ... Missed no-call just helped Bucknell to another basket. A clear travel by Chris Hass extending the Bison possession.
Kent State defense has been average at best, and Flashes getting out-shot from 3-point range, 2-for-10 for KSU to 4-of-6 for Bucknell.
9:42 ... Bucknell lead is 20-17 ... Not doing a great job of defending the three so far (4-for-6 by Bucknell so far) ... and also not understanding some situations, allowing Fitzpatrick to drive left from the top when the scouting report says the forward is a drive-first guy, and a lefty.
15:28 ... Kent State's men's team can shoot it from three... We all saw that when the Flashes broke the school record for threes earlier in this home stand ... But there's no need to fall into a three-point shooting competition against Bucknell.
The Bison doesn't have a shot-blocker on its roster, and yet Kent State is spending most of its time on the perimeter early. That will change.
Flashes still lead 10-8 early after a three-point play by Brewer on a driving layup following a Goodson steal.
Bucknell held a 6-point lead just before Simmons checked in late. The guard turned in several key plays - an on-the-floor steal while rotating to help against a screen, three from the left wing, and a tough defensive rebound in traffic
Goodson leads the Flashes with 8 points on 3-for-10 shooting.
Henniger has yet to score for the Flashes, but he has 6 rebounds.
Derek Jackson has done a nice job on Ayers. Bucknell's top scorer (15 per game) has yet to hit a shot from the field and has just two points from the line.
Flashes still outscoring Bucknell in the paint 12-10 despite taking more than half of their shots from three-point range.
3:50 ... Flashes falling in love a bit with the three. They aren't necessarily bad threes, but its hard sometimes to remember that the first open look isn't necessarily the best look you can get in a possession. It seems like the Flashes are finding that first shot from the deep right corner in front of the Bucknell bench, and right now the Bison is happy to give them that shot.
KSU is 3-for-14 from three. Bucknell is 5-of-9, with Brackney leading the way with 12 on 4-of-5 shooting from three. He hit one just a few minutes ago over the wingspan of the 6-9 Khaliq Spicer.
7:53 ... Missed no-call just helped Bucknell to another basket. A clear travel by Chris Hass extending the Bison possession.
Kent State defense has been average at best, and Flashes getting out-shot from 3-point range, 2-for-10 for KSU to 4-of-6 for Bucknell.
9:42 ... Bucknell lead is 20-17 ... Not doing a great job of defending the three so far (4-for-6 by Bucknell so far) ... and also not understanding some situations, allowing Fitzpatrick to drive left from the top when the scouting report says the forward is a drive-first guy, and a lefty.
15:28 ... Kent State's men's team can shoot it from three... We all saw that when the Flashes broke the school record for threes earlier in this home stand ... But there's no need to fall into a three-point shooting competition against Bucknell.
The Bison doesn't have a shot-blocker on its roster, and yet Kent State is spending most of its time on the perimeter early. That will change.
Flashes still lead 10-8 early after a three-point play by Brewer on a driving layup following a Goodson steal.
PREGAME
7:07 p.m. ... Just 16 minutes to tip here at the M.A.C. Center and Kent State's men trying to sweep the doubleheader following the women's team's blowout win over Niagara.
We are on the pre-game show now on WHLO 640 AM, simulcast online on iHeartRadio's Golden Flashes channel.
Got to defend the three and be smart defensively tonight because Bucknell will throw quite a bit at you offensively ... similar to the way Princeton keeps teams a little out of whack with all of their motion.
Bucknell runs a lot of the Princeton sets. Lots of screens, including the transition drag screen that the San Antonio Spurs love to run in the NBA. How the Flashes defend that late in transition will be a big key.
The Flashes usually want to defend and get out and go. That's a goal again tonight, but it will take a little extra poise in the defensive end before getting out and running with the basketball.
Kent State vs. Niagara
Women's Basketball
SECOND HALF
FINAL ... Kent State 69, Niagara 46 ...
The Flashes jumped ahead with a 21-2 run to close the first half and never looked back.
Ashley Evans scored 15 points to lead the Flashes, who had four players in double figures. Montia Johnson added 11 points in a double-double performance that included 10 rebounds. Mikell Chinn and Cheylene Harper added 10 points each, and Cici Shannon pulled down 11 rebounds and blocked three shots. 3:30 ... Kent State has dodged the early bullet in the second half ... leading 63-40 and running away a bit now.
10:30 ... Tables have turned a bit as Niagara has out-scored Kent State 22-11 and out-rebounded the Flashes 10-6.
Kent State lead is down to 51-37.
11:47 ... Niagara is starting to make a bit of a move, cutting the Kent State lead to 51-34 on a layup play by a driving Chanel Johnson.
Shannon picked up two quick fouls in a row on blocks that looked pretty clean.
Scoring in the paint is 28-12.
Evans has 12 to lead the Flashes. Dunlap has 10. Hot hand for Niagara is Peterson, who leads all scorers with 15.
16:30 ... First bucket of the game for Lurken, and on a great drive and dish by Jontia Johnson to build Kent State's lead to 48-22.
18:08 ... Kent State outscored Niagara 29-2 from late in the second half through the early part of this half.
... and again, all of this with Lurken looking for her first points...
FIRST HALF
0:00 ... Dominating first half for Kent State's women, leading Niagara 40-15.
The Golden Flashes lost at Niagara by almost 30 last season. Pretty big turnaround for both teams.
Halftime numbers:
Ashley Evans and Amber Dunlap lead KSU with 10 points each.
Shannon already has nine rebounds and the Flashes are out-rebounding Niagara 27-13.
The Purple Eagles have made just 7-of-25 shots (28-percent), while Kent State is hitting 45.9-percent (17-37) despite making just 1-of-7 from three-point range. No need for the here when you are getting so many good looks in the paint.
2:01 ... An offensive rebound, putback, and foul shot by freshman Janae Peterson has extended the Kent State lead to 39-15 ... and the old-fashioned three-point play came on a missed free throw by Shannon.
All of this without a single point by Larissa Lurken, who is KSU's leading scorer so far this season at 11 per game.
4:47 ... Shannon, Johnson and Harper are dominating the inside as Kent State has outscored Niagara 22-2 in the paint.
Now hitting from the perimeter, too, as an Ashley Evans jumper from the wing has put Kent State ahead 35-13.
9:16 ... A three-pointer by Ashley Evans from the right corner has forced Niagara to call a timeout.
Flashes have better ball movement on offense since the last time I had a chance to see them play. Good to see them starting to gel. It hasn't taken very long with so many new faces.
Harper, who is a graduate student from Arizona, just hit another shot in the post off of a nice drop step. She makes a nice double post with Shannon. That duo is on the floor together right now.
Rebounding advantage is 15-7.
Shannon and Johnson have six rebounds each already.
11:09 ... A slim 14-13 lead for the Flashes, who are led at the moment by Montia Johnson's 6 points.
Johnson just hit a pretty turnaround in the lane. She has a real scorer's mentality, and at 6-1 she has the size and length to get that shot off in traffic. Cheylene Harper has also had an early impact off of the bench, hitting an elbow jumper off of a high-post catch coming out of this timeout. Add in a 3-pointer by Amber Dunlap, and the Flashes have built a 21-13 advantage with just inside 10 minutes to go. A nice 8-0 run in just one minute.
15:07 ... Flashes lead 8-6 after a steal and breakaway by Mikell Chinn.
It is very obvious the difference CiCi Shannon makes in the middle of this defense. She doesn't have a blocked shot yet, but just stepping up in the middle she has forced a travel by Donisha Watson. She has also helped to hold Niagara to pretty much one and out on the offensive end.
Shannon is the first dominant defensive presence in the middle for Kent State since Andrea Csaszar 10 years ago. Although, Tiffany LaFleur was also a presence inside defensively. Csaszar blocked 162 shots in her career (2000-02, 04). LaFleur blocked 109 (2003-07).
16:30 ... Good start for Ashley Evans, who has 4 points. Tied at 4-4 early. Defense has been solid for the Flashes, forcing three turnovers in first three minutes. KSU is shooting just 2-of-7 to start, however.
PREGAME
1 p.m. ... I'm looking forward to seeing the women's basketball team for the first time in quite a while. Tonight is a good opportunity for the coach O'Banion's team to string together a couple of wins. Hopefully the doubleheader along with the promotions of free tickets with a coupon from Facebook and a free mini basketball and gold t-shirt to the first 200 students will create a better home-court advantage for both the men's and women's teams.
These doubleheaders don't happen very often anymore, but I've seen it in the past where the men's crowd arriving early gets behind the women's team and really spurs them on, and then the women's crowd staying over helps create a bigger-game atmosphere for the men.
The addition of CiCi Shannon appears to be making a big difference, especially on the defensive end where she leads the Mid-American Conference and is among the national leaders in blocked shots. True freshman Larissa Lurken also looks like she has a very promising career ahead of her. She already leads the team in scoring at 11.0 per game while shooting 34.5 percent from three.
Niagara brings three players averaging in double figures in Meghan McGuinness (13.4), Victoria Rampado (10.6) and Val McQuade (also at 10.6). McGuinnes is a 5-10 guard. Rampado and McQuade are forwards at 6-2 and 6-foot, respectively. The matchup between the 6-2 Rampado and the 6-4 Shannon could be a good one.
As for tonight's men's game, this is a big one to get to 9-1 for the first time since Jim Christian's first season in Kent back in 2002-03. That team started 9-1, but then saw that record get changed to 10-0 later when St. Bonaventure was forced to forfeit six games for using an ineligible player.
I was at the game at Bucknell last season. The Bison are obviously missing Mike Muscala, who was a beast in last year's 76-60 Bison win, scoring 27 points on 12-of-17 shooting. The Flashes had no answer for him. Bryson Johnson (13 points) and Joe Williams (8 points, 10 rebounds) also had nice games for Bucknell, but they are both gone now, too.
In their place, 6-5 guard Cameron Ayers and 6-3 guard 6-8 forward Brian Fitzpatrick are now the Bison's most dangerous scorers at 15.0 and 11.1 points per game. Steve Kaspar is a pretty crafty 6-3 point guard who is averaging just under 10 per game.
Fitzpatrick and Kaspar were bit players last year when Kent State played at Bucknell. They didn't put up any numbers in a combined 15 minutes off of the bench in that meeting. Ayers scored nine points, grabbed five rebounds and shot 1-for-4 from the three-point arc.
This year's numbers dictate that Kent State should try to get to the rim. Bucknell has only three blocked shots in seven games so far. Led by the 6-10 Muscala last season, Bucknell blocked four shots in the game against Kent State alone. The Bison play almost exclusively man-to-man defense, and the Flashes should try to play inside-out first. This is also a game where Kent State can really try to crash the offensive boards.
Kris Brewer is a bit hobbled, but Senderoff said he expects the junior point guard to start tonight. Having a nice long break after this game will be good for him.
One of the things I remember the most about that trip to Bucknell was the arena. The Sojka Arena in Lewisburg, Pa. might be my favorite of all of the mid-major arenas I've been in over the years. It only seats around 4,000, but has is a fantastic atmosphere.
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