SECOND HALF
FINAL ... Kent State with a 58-46 win over Kennesaw State
Devareaux Manley finished with 14 points and Kris Brewer and Jimmy Hall both added 12 as the Flashes improved to 5-2.
Kent State held Kennesaw State to 2-for-10 shooting on two-point field goals in the second half and to 26.3 percent shooting overall in the final 20 minutes. One of Kennesaw State's five field goals in the second half was a desperation bank in from three by Bernard Morena with the shot clock running down.Derek Jackson sacrificed some of his scoring while dishing out 11 assists after moving into the point guard role. Jimmy Hall also grabbed nine rebounds in a total team effort.
2:44 ... The lead is 56-46 for Kent State.
Kennesaw is just 2-for-9 on two-point field goal attempts in the second half.
Jimmy Hall just hit his 10th point, making him the first player for Kent State to score in double figures in each of his first seven games since Tyree Evans in 2008.
Derek Jacskon's assist total is now 11.
7:46 ... Kris Brewer has provided another lift off of the bench in his second shift of a half. His elbow-extended jumper has given the Flashes a 49-41 lead.
An unforced error for a turnover will give the ball back to Kent State with a chance to extend that lead.
10:23 ... Some very good minutes off of the bench for Kent State as Raasean Davis and Marquiez Lawrence have big buckets inside during the last few minutes. Chris Ortiz added a corner three.
The bucket in the paint by Lawrence turned into an old-fashioned three-point play.
The Flashes were up by nine briefly. It's now 47-41.
Derek Jackson already has 8 assists for the Flashes. That's a career high.
16:47 ... A quick star to the second half has allowed Kent State to kick the lead out to 39-31.
Devareaux Manley has two threes in the first three minutes and now has 14 points for the day. On his second, he had very little room to get off the shot as Delbert Love was pressuring right up against his chest.
Derek Jackson has been emotional here in the second half. His defense has been excellent.
FIRST HALF
HALFTIME: Kent State 31, Kennesaw State 27The Golden Flashes played the final five minutes with a three guard lineup of Brewer, Manley and Jackson. With finals week coming up and no game for seven days, Rob Senderoff feels like he can push those lone three guards available on the Kent State roster for more minutes than usual.
Brewer didn't see a great deal of action in the game's first 10 minutes, but he provided a lift in his second shift. Along with his 5-0 run at about the five-minute mark, he had an offensive rebound in traffic, finding Manley for an open three.
Manley leads the Flashes with eight points. Jackson has seven and Hall has six points to go with a game-high eight rebounds.
Hall also has five turnovers in 18 minutes. Most of those turnovers have been traveling calls. He just needs to settle down a bit and trust that he can get any shot he wants against this Owls defense.
In all, Kent State has committed nine turnovers. Fortunately, the Flashes have also forced eight more on the other end of the floor.
The Flashes defense has been pretty good, holding Kennesaw State to 37-percent shooting and limiting looks from the three-point arc. When the Owls have found the opportunity to take the open three, they've hit it, going 4-for-6.
Kennesaw State usually gets about 40 percent of its offense from beyond the arc, so limiting the Owls to just six threes in 27 attempts while playing mostly zone is a positive. The Flashes have done a good job of closing out and forcing the Owls to put the ball on the floor.
If the Flashes can continue to limit threes and hold the Owls close to the 28 percent shooting (4-for-21) inside the arc that they managed in the first half, they should be in good shape.
3:10 ... Flashes lead 26-25 thanks to an individual 5-0 run by Kris Brewer, hitting a three from the left corner and then following a miss to get a layup in traffic.
The Flashes are shooting it well – 10-for-20 from field and 4-of-8 from three. But eight turnovers have been killers.
Kennesaw State and Kent State may be going for the record for combined traveling calls in one game.
6:46 ... Kent State lead is still a single point at 21-20.
The Flashes have gone most of the way with Jackson and Manley at the guard spots. As expected, they will play extended minutes, and because of that the Flashes have played mostly 2-3 zone.
Gary Akrbar has done a good job of penetrating against the Kennesaw State zone and getting to the line. After an 0-for-4 start from the foul line, though, he has hit two in a row.
Delbert Love has been very good for the Owls, scoring eight points on 3-for-4 shooting, including 2-of-2 from three-point arc.
11:01 ... The Flashes have threes from Derek Jackson, Devareaux Manley and Chris Ortiz. Jimmy Hall looks like he can get any shot he wants tonight. And while that's all good news, the Flashes play on the defensive end of the floor has to be a big concurring.
The Owls are getting too many second chances, seemingly getting at least a hand on every miss. They already have four offensive rebounds leading to seven second-chance points.
Kent State has a slim 15-14 lead.
15:36 ... Kent State holds a 5-4 lead at the first media timeout. The scoring has come on a pretty jump-hook by Jimmy Hall over the Owls' Willy Kouassi along with a second-chance three pointer by Derek Jackson following an offensive rebound by Khaliq Spicer.
Neither team shooting the ball very well 2-for-5 and 0-for-2 from the line for the Flashes and 2-for-7 for Kennesaw State. The Flashes are struggling a bit on the defensive glass as the Owls have kept several misses alive.
Kennesaw is playing a 2-3 zone and trying to force the Flashes to shoot over the top with their shortage in the backcourt. They are also pressing full-court.
PREGAME
11:05 a.m. ... One of the best parts of being on the road with the team is the chance to sit in on film sessions. I can get a better feel for an opponent than we do by studying on our own.
The biggest stress Kent State's coaches made in the last two days was getting back in transition because Kennesaw State really tries to attack quickly after misses and turnovers. Guards like Yonel Brown (14.3 ppg) and Delbert Love (9.4 ppg) along with three Nigel Pruitt (12.0 ppg) will look for threes in transition. The Owls can shoot the three from one-to-four and have five guys already who have attempted 20 threes this season.
Kent State has struggled a bit lately keeping teams off of the offensive glass, and Kennesaw State is an aggressive offensive rebounding team. Four man Orlando Coleman is only 6-foot-5, but he crashes the glass.
Based on the numbers, it appears that the uptempo game Kennesaw State likes to play often leads to turnovers. The Flashes should also get similar second-chance opportunities to the Owls as they have occasionally on the defensive glass.
As expected, the Flashes will do some shuffling of the starting lineup to adjust to the loss of Kellon Thomas, who was set to move into the starting lineup prior to taking an elbow to the eye in practice on Thursday.
Todays lineup is likely to feature Derek Jackson getting his first extended duty at point guard to open the game. Devareaux Manley is expected to slide into Jackson's previous spot at the starting two. Gary Akbar will get his first start at the three, but the junior-college transfer could also see some minutes out of position at the two if the Flashes get into any early foul trouble.Kris Brewer will be wearing No. 22 today instead of his usual No. 1. The senior's uniform was left back in Kent.
9:30 a.m. ... Kent State's coaches showed the team some film of Houston Texans defensive lineman J.J. Watt last night. Along with an interview on ESPN's Mike & Mike, where Watt talked about his desire to beat the player opposite him on every single play, there was video of Watt miked up for a game against the Tennessee Titans. They want the Flashes to show the same kind of determination on the court, along with a willingness to take on any role asked of them.
"Watt is a beast," said Kent State forward Jimmy Hall. "A straight up beast."
Kent State players are going to be asked to take over different and expanded roles until Kellon Thomas can return from an eye injury suffered in practice on Thursday.
8:45 a.m. ... The team just finished breakfast and its final film session before leaving for the Convocation Center at Kennesaw State University.
The 4,792-seat facility built in 2005 is similar to what we've seen in new arenas built for mid-major teams in recent years. Today it will probably seat closer to 2,500 with the upper bleachers pulled back and hidden by a screen.
Tip-off is at noon. You can listen to the radio broadcast as always on WHLO 640 AM with the online audio stream on the Golden Flashes iHeart Radio channel. Online video of the game will be available on ESPN3.
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