Live Blog: Kent State Men's Basketball at Central Michigan

OVERTIME 

FINAL – Central Michigan 78, Kent State 73

The Flashes had the ball with 19 seconds to play, down three, but didn't get a shot off after an illegal screen call against Darren Goodson. 

It's a tough time for a call like that. I couldn't see it, so I have to assume that it had to be obvious for Cornell Kincaid to make that call at that point in the game. If it wasn't obvious, the players need to settle the game.

But it shouldn't have come down to that...

The Flashes fouled twice in overtime as Central players drove to the hoop for layups. Two old-fashioned three-point plays were killers.

And the turnovers that turned the game around in the second half. Play with poise against the pressure and you build on a nine-point lead. Instead, that lead gets flipped into an 8-point Central lead in the second half.

SECOND HALF

0:00 ... On to overtime... Fowler missed from 12 feet and Keel missed a tip in with two hands at the buzzer.

0:25 ... Simmons with another three ties it at 61-61

0:43 ... K.K. Simmons drills a three on a nice pass by Kris Brewer, cuts Central lead to 59-58.

Simmons helped with two missed free throws.

3:12 ... Mark Henniger will head to the foul line after this timeout, trying to cut into the 58-54 Central lead.

The Chippewas switched to a 2-3 zone and the Flashes were patient, reversing the ball for a nice entry pass by Jackson in to Henniger, who almost flipped in the lefty hook while drawing the foul.

Central outscoring Kent State 33-22 this half.

3:41 ... Central lead is 58-54 and Kent State calls timeout after giving up a fast-break layup by Braylon Rayson.

Kent State defense has been better in last few minutes in the half court, forcing tough shots.

Goodson has a favorable matchup inside against Hibbitts, getting easy looks after backing down the Central forward. He gave up the ball against Hibbitts in the left post on the last possession however and after a mishandle the Flashes were forced into a long jumper by Jackson at the buzzer, which led to the Central break.

7:41 ... A nightmare of a second half for Kent State so far. Central has turned a nine-point deficit early in the second half to a 55-47 lead.

Fowler playing with much more confidence is starting to take control.

Flashes guards are missing open jumpers, and that's not helping.

11:52 ... Kent State still not cleaning up its play against the press. The Flashes now have 15 turnovers. The Chippewas are turning those miscues into easy points ... The lead for Central is 46-43 and the Chippewas have a 20-6 advantage off of turnovers.

13:40 ... Flashes having trouble with full-court pressure and now down 43-41 after a careless turnover leads to a bustout layup by Braylon Rayson.

15:46 ... Kellon Thomas with a three-pointer to answer three in a row by Central's John Simons.

Threes by Simons are keeping the Chippewas in it... He hit those three from long range after Kent State opened up a nine-point lead.

Derek Jackson continues to cut off every attempt to get to the basket by Fowler, who is still 1-for-8. 

FIRST HALF 

HALFTIME ... Kent State lead is 32-25.

Flashes have their largest lead with a nice finish to the half.

Flashes shooting 58.3 percent from floor (14-for-24) and 33-percent from three (3-for-9)

Derek Jackson has been solid with a game-high nine points. Goodson has just two points, but a team-best four rebounds.

Austin Stewart is 2-for-2 for Central, but the rest of the Chippewas starting lineup is a combined 4-for-23. That includes a 1-for-8 for Fowler against Jackson.

Chippewas are shooting 32-percent from the field (9-for-28).

The lead would be bigger for Kent State if not for some carelessness with the basketball... Nine turnovers in the first half. Central also has nine turnovers, but the Chippewas are outscoring the Flashes 8-4 off of those turnovers.

Kent State dominating the paint, 16-8.

Kris Brewer is 4-for-5 from the field. I really think the addition of Kellon Thomas to the starting lineup is helping Brewer focus a little more on his offense.



3:41 ... Officials are letting a whole lot go ... which is kind of nice.

Central Michigan's guards could be called for an offensive foul on just about every possession for clearing their way to the rim. But Kent State could have been whistled for four or five traveling calls and several fouls in the paint.

KSU lead is 26-23.

Henniger has provided another lift off of the bench. Four points and two offensive rebounds.

7:48 ... Derek Jackson injured, poked in the eye after hitting a short pull-up to put Kent State ahead 22-18.


11:36 ... A hot start offensively for the Flashes, who are shooting 7-for-10 from the field and 2-of-3 from three-point range.

They lead by just two points, however, at 16-14 due to some carelessness with the basketball... Already five turnovers.


13:54 ... Quick timeout after Dev Manley hits a three against 2-3 zone, and the Flashes lead is 12-9.


15:05 ... Central Michigan is up 15:05 at the first media timeout. 

As expected, Chippewas guards are trying to penetrate while the bigs are hanging out at the three-point line. Darren Goodson bumped 6-foot-7 Blake Hibbits on a three in the first few minutes to draw a foul. 

CMU is also pressing after every made basket.

As we break out of the timeout, Derek Jackson knocked down a three from the top for a 9-7 lead.

PREGAME 

6:15  p.m. ... Some bad news ... starting center Khaliq Spicer may not be available tonight for the Golden Flashes. The sophomore suffered an injury in a fall during shoot around earlier today.

He is taped up and on the floor warming up, but his availability will be determined at game time.

The officials tonight: Frank Spencer, Jim Ferrari, Cornell Kincaid.

Kent State is 0-2 with Spencer working games this season, losing to Cleveland State and at Buffalo. This Flashes have won three straight games with Ferrari at the whistle, at home vs. Bowling Green, Buffalo and Central Michigan last season, but this is the first game with him this season. We also have not seen Kincaid this year.


5:46 p.m. ... Kent State and Central Michigan are on the floor getting ready for tonight's game, which can be heard live on WHLO 640 AM and online at the Golden Flashes iHeartRadio channel.

The seating configuration at McGuirk Arena could serve offer a hint at what Kent State could do in a renovation to the M.A.C. Center.

The space Central Michigan had when it turned old Rose Arena into McGuirk Arena is similar to the M.A.C. Center. Actually, we may have more space with which to work in Kent, and that's pretty exciting when you see what Central Michigan has been able to do with limited space in its lower level. While there is a walkway around the arena that is similar to the upper level walkway of the M.A.C. Center, the seating here at McGuirk feels as if it begins at the floor and rises all the way to the back row without a visual break.

There are 16 rows of chair-back seats - comfortable and cushioned - starting from from the floor with comfortable bleacher seats in the same color taking up the final 12 rows.



4 p.m. ... There is already quite a bit of talk during this trip about Derek Jackson's return to Central Michigan.

The Kent State junior takes on his former team tonight at 7 p.m. here in Mount Pleasant, Mich. in what is a rare opportunity for Mid-American Conference players to face a former team.

This type of homecoming is obviously more familiar in professional sports. The rare exceptions in the MAC include Bubba Walther moving from Akron to Ohio University, where he gave his old team all kinds of problems, and before that Jason Grunkemeyer moving from Ohio University to Miami, where he hit one of the most memorable shots in that rivalry's history – a last-second bomb in the 2001 Mid-American Conference Tournament in Cleveland to lift the RedHawks to a 62-61 win over the Bobcats, and setting up a matchup with eventual MAC champion Kent State.

When Jackson walked into McGuirk Arena last night for practice, his Kent State teammates started chanting his name. 

Jackson left Central Michigan soon after Keno Davis replaced his old coach, Ernie Ziegler, as head coach in 2012, although he considered staying with the Chippewas for a while. At Central, he averaged 7.5 points per game as a freshman and 11.5 as a sophomore. At Kent State he is averaging 10.7 per game while filling a key role as the Golden Flashes' defensive stopper. 

Tonight Jackson draws the night's most important assignment 6-1 Central Michigan sophomore Chris Fowler. A big part of slowing down Fowler will be keeping him from getting out in transition and containing his penetration.

Fowler and fellow guard Braylon Rayson are both drive-first guards while most of the Chippewas bigs are spot-up shooters who want little to do with the paint and instead want to pick and pop. This should be a game where Kent State wins the points-in-the-paint battle. Central doesn't have a great deal of size, anyway, with four Blake Hibbits at 6-foot-7 and five John Simons at 6-8. Both hunt threes in transition and their offense is primarily based on jumpers. They don't have any size backing them up as the only three players who get significant minutes in their rotation stand between 6-3 and 6-4.

Central likes to press for the better part of 40 minutes, so that could be a challenge for a Kent State team that has struggled breaking pressure in recent weeks ... including during crunch time against Akron on Saturday.

The Chippewas are 0-8 in league play this season, but they've given teams like Ohio University and Akron a tough time. They will get a win here sooner or later. The Flashes just need to make sure it isn't against them tonight.

I posted some pictures from this long road trip over at the Kent State men's basketball blog. Check it out if you are interested in what a basketball team does during a trip like this.