SECOND HALF
The Flashes finish off a 67-60 win.
Here's a link to the final game story on www.kentstatesports.com.
1:31 ... Kent State had its biggest lead at 6 points after another Manley three. But Toledo has the ball now trailing 61-57.
3:23 ... A Dev Manley 3 with just over four minutes to play matched Kent State's biggest lead of the night at 56-51. But Toledo has answered with a Weatherspoon layup, and now the Rockets will go back to the foul line as Garber was fouled by Spicer going over the back trying to keep an offensive rebound alive.
Spicer has been very good with 8 points and 7 rebounds to go with 2 blocked shots and a steal.
Manley has 18 to lead the Flashes. Brewer has 16.
For Toledo, Williams has 12 while Weatherspoon and Boothe both have 10. Boothe has been very good in the post for Toledo, finding teammates out of double teams.
7:44 ... Kent State continues to battle. The Flashes have battled back from a five-point deficit that seemed like so much more.
Gary Akbar with great defense on a switch to a difficult assignment on Brown, forced the long miss, then found Spicer for a fast-break dunk that has deadlocked the game at 47-47 at this timeout.
The Flashes have gone cold from the foul line. After five straight misses, Brewer finally ended the drought from the stripe by splitting a pair just before the Akbar-to-Spicer dunk.
11:58 ... Kris Brewer hangs in the air, draws the foul and flips in the layup with an aggressive take. He will go to the foul line trying to tie this one up coming out of this timeout. Kent State trails 41-40 at the moment, but is overcoming a tough deal with Hall playing through three fouls.
The Flashes decided they couldn't keep Hall on the bench, checking him back into the game at about the 14 minute mark.
Manley has finally drilled his first three, ending an 0-for-6 start from the arc. He has 11 points, though, after trying to get things going by going to the basket.
Juice Brown has 7 points in the second half after going scoreless before halftime. Derek Jackson had locked him down for the better part of 23 minutes, but now Brown is starting to attack the paint with more regularity.
15:54 ... Difficult problem to deal with here for Kent State as Jimmy Hall picked up his 3rd foul on a questionable call just 1:30 into the second half.
The Flashes have struggled to find their offense without Hall in the game. Even with his 1-for-6 in the first half, Hall had an impact, drawing double teams and finding open teammates.
Spicer has tried to keep the Flashes going, powering in a layup and then blocking a shot at the other end, but he is out now as well as the Flashes go small against a big Toledo lineup.
FIRST HALF
Khaliq Spicer has been extremely active on both ends of the floor. His back-tip of a Manley missed three with five seconds left in the half landed right back into the hands of a streaking Manley for an uncontested layup.
Effort plays have given Kent State just enough of an advantage so far. Manley is 0-for-4 from three, but has still been a factor attacking the rim.
Jimmy Hall has struggled to a 1-for-6 start. The last time that happened, he was a big factor in the second half against Eastern Michigan.
Kris Brewer has 9 points to lead the Flashes so far.
KSU is shooting just 41 percent from the field. Toledo is at just 40 percent.
3:50 ... Kent State and Toledo tied 21-21 in a very entertaining game.
Khaliq Sipcer with a layup tied the game with just over four minutes to go before the break, and then an alert steal on the other end has the Flashes with the ball going into this media timeout. KSU has 11 seconds on the shot clock.
Spicer has played well again. He has a big two-handed dunk. On the last layup, he alertly waited for J.D. Weatherspoon to soar bye on an attempted block before flipping in the layup.
7:15 ... The Flashes have lost some of that offensive momentum.
The Flashes have been stuck on 13 for the better part of seven minutes and are now down 14-13. It has been a four-minute drought for the Flashes so far.
A defensive game should favor the Flashes.
13:10 ... KSU is on an 11-2 run since the last media timeout, shooting 5-for-7 from the field since that 1-for-7 start.
The defense has been excellent thanks to a lift by Marquiez Lawrence off the bench. He came in after the 15:16 timeout and had a soaring blocked shot to ignite this spurt.
Kris Brewer has been in attack mode and has 5 points. Dev Manley has a great diving steal. And Hall is starting to get things going in the post.
Love the officiating so far... Just three combined fouls
15:16 ... Rob Senderoff was forced to call a quick timeout after just three minutes with his team down 6-0 and struggling a bit on both ends. At the media timeout, the Golden Flashes find themselves down 8-2. They are just 1-for-7 from the field.
Jimmy Hall is getting deep touches on the offensive end, but hasn't been able to finish in the early going. Devareaux Manley is off to a tough start at 0-for-3 from three-point range.
The Flashes have to make sure they account for J.D. Weatherspoon on the boards. Weatherspoon with a tip-dunk put the Rockets up 8-2.
PREGAME
6:45 p.m. ... We have a veteran officiating crew tonight with D.J. Carstensen, Chris Beaver and Kevin Ferguson.
This is the first game at the M.A.C. Center for Carstensen, who at one point last season should have applied for residency here after working a string of Kent State home games.
Starting lineups for Toledo: Julius Brownand Jonathan Williams at the guards, Justin Drummond and J.D. Weatherspoon at the forwards and Nathan Boothe at center.
Kent State will start with Derek Jackson and Devareaux Manley at the guards, Chris Ortiz and Jimmy Hall at the forwards and Khaliq Spicer at the five.
6 p.m. ... Tonight offers Kent State a great opportunity to get a gauge where they are in their season. Toledo hasn't been playing its best basketball of late, but the Rockets are still considered a favorite to challenge for a Mid-American Conference championship. This a talented, well-coached club led by some veterans who understand what it takes to win at this level.
Juice Brown is as dangerous an offensive weapon as there is in this league. The shifty 5-foot-10 senior comes in averaging 15.9 points per game while shooting it at 47 percent from both the field and from three. His matchup with Kent State's Derek Jackson is as good as you will see on any night in the MAC. Jackson is arguably the conference's best on-the-ball defender, and he'll try to pick up Brown early at half court, keeping him from getting out in transition and from dribble penetration.
The matchup of Toledo's J.D. Weatherspoon vs. Jimmy Hall should be just as fun to watch. Weatherspoon is the athlete in that battle while Hall is skilled and maybe a little more crafty in the post compared with Weatherspoon's power. Kent State will hope Hall's length and a slight size advantage will help defend Weatherspoon without fouling. Weatherspoon is bouncy, so the Flashes are going to have to find a way to keep the 6-foot-6 senior lefty from giving the Rockets an an advantage on the offensive glass.
Toledo is a great offensive rebounding team from the three, four and five spot, so second-chance points could be a key in this game.
Chris Ortiz has made some significant strides on the offensive end for Kent State since moving to the three a few weeks back. And while Ortiz has worked hard on the defensive end, guarding the three isn't a natural fit for him. He'll be challenged tonight against 6-4 Toledo senior Justin Drummond, who is aggressive in the way he attacks the basket. Ortiz is bigger, but he'll have to contain Drummond off the dribble and force him to take contested twos instead of open threes, where he shoots it at 35.6 percent.
Toledo is very good from three-point range as a team, leading the MAC in percentage in conference games at 46.7 percent and averaging three makes per game. Brown, Weatherspoon, Drummond, Jonathan Williams, Nathan Boothe and Jordan Lauf – the team's top three scorers – have all attempted between 93 (Brown) and 19 (Weatherspoon) threes this season, and all are shooting between 47.3 percent (Brown) and 35.6 percent (Drummond).
While the Rockets are one of the MAC's best offensive teams (2nd), they can struggle defensively, and especially in transition. Kent State needs to get stops and try to get out and run in search of easy baskets. In the half court, the Flashes should be able to attack inside, where the Rockets defense has shown some weakness of late.
Toledo is coached by Tod Kowalczyk, who is not well liked by the Golden Flashes fan base based on a, well, let's call it a disrespectful post-game celebration at the M.A.C. Center in 2009 when he was head coach at Wisconsin Green-Bay.
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