SECOND HALF
FIRST HALF
PREGAME
FINAL ... Kent State 62, Bowling Green 61
Dev Manley drills a three from the left corner to give the Flashes a win in another home thriller.
Just nine seconds earlier Manley appeared to make a critical mistake after missing a three in a tie game and then fouling Bowling Green's Spencer Parker on the baseline. Parker hit two free throws to put the Falcons on top by two.
Brewer missed a drive racing to the other end with three seconds to go, but Henniger kept the ball alive, giving the Flashes another chance.
Manley took advantage of that chance, atoning for his earlier mistake by drilling the three in front of the KSU bench with 0.9 seconds.
BGSU did not get a shot off in that final second.
0:57.3 ... KSU and BGSU are tied, 59-59 and the Flashes have called timeout with 20 seconds on the shot clock.
Two beautiful possessions leading to a layup and a dunk both by Henniger briefly gave Kent State one-point leads. We are tied after BGSU's Jehvon Clarke split a pair of free throws.
3:54 ... Jackson hits two free throws to cut a 5-point BGSU lead to three, then steals the inbound pass for an easy layup. He has 25 and Flashes down just 56-55.
Whale of a game for Jackson... Updated numbers 8-for-11 from field, 5-of-7 from three, 4-for-5 from line, four rebounds, two steals in 31 minutes.
7:50 ... Kent State can't quite get over the hump. In the last few minutes, the Flashes have had several possessions with a deficit of just a point.
They'll have another opportunity coming out of this timeout ... and Dev Manley misses a three.
11:58 ... Derek Jackson's 21 points has Kent State in this one, trailing 47-44.
Jackson is 7-of-9 from the field and 5-of-6 from three. He is also sprinting back on defense to break up Falcons fast breaks and leading the Flashes in rebounding as well with four.
16:00 ... Another slow start to a half has been answered by Kent State ... this answer coming a little earlier.
Dev Manley drills a three from the left corner to give the Flashes a win in another home thriller.
Just nine seconds earlier Manley appeared to make a critical mistake after missing a three in a tie game and then fouling Bowling Green's Spencer Parker on the baseline. Parker hit two free throws to put the Falcons on top by two.
Brewer missed a drive racing to the other end with three seconds to go, but Henniger kept the ball alive, giving the Flashes another chance.
Manley took advantage of that chance, atoning for his earlier mistake by drilling the three in front of the KSU bench with 0.9 seconds.
BGSU did not get a shot off in that final second.
0:57.3 ... KSU and BGSU are tied, 59-59 and the Flashes have called timeout with 20 seconds on the shot clock.
Two beautiful possessions leading to a layup and a dunk both by Henniger briefly gave Kent State one-point leads. We are tied after BGSU's Jehvon Clarke split a pair of free throws.
3:54 ... Jackson hits two free throws to cut a 5-point BGSU lead to three, then steals the inbound pass for an easy layup. He has 25 and Flashes down just 56-55.
Whale of a game for Jackson... Updated numbers 8-for-11 from field, 5-of-7 from three, 4-for-5 from line, four rebounds, two steals in 31 minutes.
7:50 ... Kent State can't quite get over the hump. In the last few minutes, the Flashes have had several possessions with a deficit of just a point.
They'll have another opportunity coming out of this timeout ... and Dev Manley misses a three.
11:58 ... Derek Jackson's 21 points has Kent State in this one, trailing 47-44.
Jackson is 7-of-9 from the field and 5-of-6 from three. He is also sprinting back on defense to break up Falcons fast breaks and leading the Flashes in rebounding as well with four.
16:00 ... Another slow start to a half has been answered by Kent State ... this answer coming a little earlier.
The Falcons jumped out to a 13-point lead early, only to have Kent State race back behind two Thomas layups, shielding off bigger defenders on both, and a Jackson three pointer. The second layup by Thomas came on a fast break set up by a ridiculous behind-the-back block by Khaliq Spicer. It was actually a behind-the-back block, twisting in the air to adjust to the shot and slapping the blocked shot ahead to start the break.
Derek Jackson is now 5-for-6 from the field and 4-for-5 from three.
FIRST HALF
HALFTIME ... Bowling Green 35, Kent State 27
A poor finish to has undone some of the good work the Golden Flashes did from the 15-minute to the 5-minute mark of the first half.
Derek Jackson had a brilliant first half off of the bench for Kent State, scoring 13 points on 4-for-5 shooting, including 3-of-4 from three-point range.
Kris Brewer's shooting woes continue, however. After a 1-for-10 night at Eastern Michigan, the junior point guard is 1-for-7 tonight. He does have three assists and no turnovers, however, and was on the floor for the Flashes' big comeback.
Jehvon Clarke and Cameron Black lead Bowling Green with 10 points. The Falcons as expected have attacked inside, outscoring Kent State 22-8 in the paint.
Turnovers are an issue again for Kent State ... 12 of them so far leading to 14 of Bowling Green's points. Fortunately, the Falcons have been just as careless with the basketball. Their 12 turnovers have led to 10 Kent State points.
The Golden Flashes' bench has outscored BGSU's 18-2.
4:00 ... We apologize to everyone listening at home.
We are having all kinds of troubles with tonight's broadcast. One of the team's managers accidentally kicked out the our broadcast line earlier tonight, shredding it and bumping us off of the air.
Fortunately Ty Linder knows how to play MacGyver. He fixed the line using some chewing gum, red-rope licorice and an old Mountain Dew bottle cap.
8:00 ... Derek Jackson scored 13 points in just four minutes to lead a furious Kent State run that put the Flashes back into the lead at 23-22.
A Brewer jumper from about 10 feet gave the Flashes the lead and ended an 0-for-4 start for the Flashes point guard. Hopefully that gets him going after going 1-for-10 vs. Eastern on Saturday.
11:58 ... The Falcons jumped out to a 13-0 start before Kent State's bench brought some energy with an 8-2 run.
A poor finish to has undone some of the good work the Golden Flashes did from the 15-minute to the 5-minute mark of the first half.
Derek Jackson had a brilliant first half off of the bench for Kent State, scoring 13 points on 4-for-5 shooting, including 3-of-4 from three-point range.
Kris Brewer's shooting woes continue, however. After a 1-for-10 night at Eastern Michigan, the junior point guard is 1-for-7 tonight. He does have three assists and no turnovers, however, and was on the floor for the Flashes' big comeback.
Jehvon Clarke and Cameron Black lead Bowling Green with 10 points. The Falcons as expected have attacked inside, outscoring Kent State 22-8 in the paint.
Turnovers are an issue again for Kent State ... 12 of them so far leading to 14 of Bowling Green's points. Fortunately, the Falcons have been just as careless with the basketball. Their 12 turnovers have led to 10 Kent State points.
The Golden Flashes' bench has outscored BGSU's 18-2.
4:00 ... We apologize to everyone listening at home.
We are having all kinds of troubles with tonight's broadcast. One of the team's managers accidentally kicked out the our broadcast line earlier tonight, shredding it and bumping us off of the air.
Fortunately Ty Linder knows how to play MacGyver. He fixed the line using some chewing gum, red-rope licorice and an old Mountain Dew bottle cap.
8:00 ... Derek Jackson scored 13 points in just four minutes to lead a furious Kent State run that put the Flashes back into the lead at 23-22.
A Brewer jumper from about 10 feet gave the Flashes the lead and ended an 0-for-4 start for the Flashes point guard. Hopefully that gets him going after going 1-for-10 vs. Eastern on Saturday.
11:58 ... The Falcons jumped out to a 13-0 start before Kent State's bench brought some energy with an 8-2 run.
The Flashes' young lineup struggled in the first five minutes missing all of its first eight shots. Since then, veterans have come in and answered by making four of last six.
It's now 19-12. Derek Jackson broke the drought with a three at 14:45, and Manley added another three. A steal and dunk by Jackson continued the run. Jackson has brought nice energy challenged with coming off of the bench.
PREGAME
6:59 p.m. ... Mike Sanzere is apparently the new in-house official for the M.A.C. Center. The NFL referee is back in the house tonight in an officiating crew that includes Mike Sanzere and Bryan Anslinger.
6:49 p.m. ... The starting lineup has been announced at its the youngest I can remember for Kent State.
Four sophomores get the start tonight with Kellon Thomas at point guard, Devin Carter at the two, Chris Ortiz at the three and Khaliq Spicer at center. Senior Darren Goodson rounds out the starting lineup.
4:33 p.m. ... The Golden Flashes are back at home again, and just like they were the last time they were in the M.A.C. Center to host an East Division rival, they are in need of a win.
Back-to-back losses at Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan last week could lead to more changes in the starting lineup as Rob Senderoff continues to try to build towards next season and beyond by playing his underclassmen.
I've received several emails over the last month asking why players like sophomores Khaliq Spicer and Chris Ortiz and freshman Marquiez Lawrence were not playing more. The answer is that Senderoff was building those minutes for quite some time now.
It's hard to take a player like Spicer and jump his minutes from 10 minutes per game right to 25 or 30 minutes. The increases have come in stages. The minutes for Spicer, Ortiz and Kellon Thomas have been steadily going up since the start of the Mid-American Conference season, with only some blips on the radar like Spicer playing just five minutes at Central Michigan. Of course, that was due to injury. Thomas would have played much more than 19 minutes at Eastern on Saturday if not for early foul trouble.
Lawrence is also closing in on more playing time thanks to his enthusiasm and hustle, as is sophomore Devin Carter. In fact, Lawrence probably would have played significantly more against Eastern Michigan if the Eagles were not a difficult zone team.
Bowling Green used to be all zone under Louis Orr, who like Eastern Michigan's Rob Murphy is part of the family tree of zone-aficianado Jim Boeheim. Now the Falcons are about 70-percent man-to-man. They still play the 2-3, trapping the corner after the first pass, but usually they are a solid man team picking up in the half court. Add in the fact tha Jehvon Clarke and Anthony Henderson are ranked No. 2 and 4 in the MAC in steals and the Falcons' defense creates some challenges, especially for a young team like the one Kent State will put on the parquet floor tonight.
When Kent State is on defense, the focus will be on defending the paint and getting back in transition. The Falcons score 60 percent of their points inside the three-point arc, which ranks them No. 11 in the country. No team in the MAC scores more in the paint than the Falcons, who will post up 6-foot-8 forward Richaun Holmes (14.2 points per game), 6-7 wing Spencer Parker (12.5 per game) and 6-10 Kent Roosevelt High School grad Cameron Black (5.6 per game). Clarke and Henderson are averaging 12.1 and 11.1 points per game, respectively. Both are 6-foot-1 and love to score in transition.
Bowling Green hasn't been getting much from its bench, so Kent State needs to have an advantage in its second unit. The Flashes should expect production off the bench considering most of tonight's backups were starters earlier in the season, and many of those players are averaging or have averaged double-digit points. But that group has been sent to the bench for a reason. They'll need to prove they deserve more minutes in the second half of the MAC season.
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