Live Blog: MAC Men's Basketball Tournament Quarterfinal vs. Akron

SECOND HALF

FINAL: Akron 53, Kent State 51

A back-and-forth game saw Kent State misfire on several late opportunities. Kris Brewer watched a driving layup hang on the rim and fall off, then missed a 10 footer. Both may have won the game for the Flashes.

Jimmy Hall fouled out with seven seconds to play and Akron's Evans split the pair to put the Zips up.

Brewer slipped and fell trying to get the ball back to Manley. He finally got it to Manley with a flip from his knees, and Manley drilled the three, but after the clock.

Kent State's season will continue in another tournament.

Akron scored the game's final 6 points.

Disappointing finish to the MAC tournament for the Flashes.

Up 13 in the first half, the Flashes took their foot off of the pedal and allowed the Zips to hang around.

3:43 ... Hall will head to the foul line trying to add to a 45-44 Kent State lead. Great effort by foul got him to the line. He had his 18 footer blocked by Forsythe, but he stayed with it, got the loose ball and drew the foul driving to the bucket.

On the previous possession for Akron, Hall stood his ground against Kretzer in the paint in a scary sequence. He avoided the foul, didn't bite on a series of moves, and forced a pass for a difficult miss.

Jackson has turned it on for the Flashes with 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting. His 12 footer off of a Khaliq Spicer steal gave KSU the lead back after Akron had pulled ahead briefly.

7:33 ... Jimmy Hall just picked up foul No. 4 after getting beat over the back for an easy layup by Forsythe.

The Akron center will go to the line trying to give the Zips their first lead since the first 23 seconds of the first half.

Hall needed to just let Forsythe lay it up after getting beaten on that over-the-top pass. He wasn't going to stop the layup, and Hall on the floor is more important at this point than that layup.

KSU seniors need to step up in last 7:33 ... Brewer and Manley are a combined 1-for-12 ... Add Jacskon and its a combined 5-for-23.

11:33 ... Akron has jump started its offense with dribble penetration by its guards.

After an 0-for-6 first half, Antino Jackson has a couple of driving layups and a long three. The Zips twice cut the KSU lead to two points, but driving layups by Brewer and Jackson (Brewer's turning into a three-point play) stopped the bleeding.

So often this season, Kent State's fortunes have followed the play of its senior guards.

Brewer and Jackson have big buckets in the last minute, but the Flashes guard trio are a combined 5-for-20. Brewer and Manley are 1-for-10.

The Flashes need to keep pushing the issue with those guards.

15:22 ... The KSU lead is just 29-22 at the media timeout.

Something to watch, the Flashes are on the bad end of a 4-0 foul differential. One of those includes a pretty poor block against Derek jackson heading into this break.

Awful offense on both ends, and the scary thing is that Kent State's spacing issues and poor shooting is allowing Akron to hang around. That's a bit scary. 

FIRST HALF

HALFTIME: Kent State 27, Akron 19

The Golden Flashes missed an opportunity to potentially put Akron away early, and it turned on a careless error in the backcourt.

KSU led by 13 and got a stop, but Craig Brown threw the ball out of bounds on what should have been an easy outlet pass. Dev Manley ran into Akron's Antino Jackson for a foul that gifted the Zips two free throws.

Instead of in possession of the basketball trying to add to a 13-point lead, the Flashes watched the Zips take a bit of momentum with a 5-0 run going into the half. Kwan Cheatham added a 3-pointer to that run.

Even with that Cheatham's three, Akron shot just 2-for-14 from the arc. That's only marginally better than its 7-for-29 (24.1 pct) first half from the field.

Isaiah Johnson is the only player who has given Kent State any real problems. He has 6 points and 4 rebounds, but watched a late shot get blocked by Jimmy Hall.

While the Flashes haven't been great offensively (37 percent), they do have points from eight different players. Jimmy Hall leads the way with 8 points and 6 rebounds.

And despite the low scoring, the two teams have combined for only four turnovers. Just a lot of missed shots.

3:22 ... This momentum has shifted to Kent State thanks in large part to Kris Brewer pushing the ball in transition and finding the Flashes' bigs running the floor right with him.

Spicer has a tip-dunk in transition. Seconds later, Brewer found Jimmy Hall to his left for a fast-break layup.

The Flashes led by 11 and had the Zips on a nearly six-minute drought until a second-chance layup by Johnson.

Akron is shooting 26 percent from the field and is 1-for-12 from three-point range.

7:45 ... The Flashes lead 15-12, which is a bit scary considering Akron is shooting only 26 percent from the field and 1-of-10 from three-point range.

Maybe a missed opportunity to blow the Zips off the floor.


11:26 ... A defensive battle so far as Akron leads 10-9 ... but Kris Brewer is heading to the foul line coming out of this media break.

Kent State is shooting 36.4 percent from the field while Akron is at 33.3 percent (16.7 from 3-point range).

A good sign for the Golden Flashes is McAdams 0-for-2 start, both misses coming from three. He was 5-for-6 from the arc against the Flashes on Friday.

The Flashes struggled for a bit while going small with Marquiez Lawrence playing out of position at the five and guarding the 6-foot-11 Forsythe for Akron. Forsythe has half of Akron's 10.

15:48 ... Kent State trails 5-4 at the first media timeout. The Flashes held Akron scoreless for first three-minutes-plus of this one before a Nyles Evans broke the ice for the Zips.

A clear travel by Isiaiah Johnson didn't draw the whistle. Johnson flipped in the layup vs. Spicer to give the Zips this lead.

Derek Jackson is in fact matched up with freshman Antino Jackson, as expected, after drawing Evans in the first game. 

Derek Jackson gave the Flashes the early lead on possession No. 1, and Jimmy Hall has a 15-foot jumper.

PREGAME

It's 5:30 p.m. and Ty Linder and I are already all set up for the Kent State-Akron broadcast in the front row of what used to be the Joe Tait perch in the club section of Quicken Loans Arena.

While we like to be courtside if possible, the view from this spot is pretty fantastic. And it's made even better by the Q's enormous new video screen.

I have talked to several Kent State fans today who said they would have loved to play Western Michigan after watching the Broncos struggle in last night's second-round game with Akron. The Broncos were awful, but some of that was due to Akron's effort in the half court.

If you are a Flashes fan, you hope that playing the third game in four nights will have the Zips showing some wear. Akron struggled a bit on the offensive end last night, missing some shots they usually knock down. Isaiah Johnson missed a few point-blank looks. Defending him could be a key tonight. The Flashes' bigs struggled with keeping the 6-foot-10 sophomore from getting deep touches last week in Kent until Jimmy Hall took over the defensive assignment.

Keeping Hall out of foul trouble will be important, so if they can, the Flashes would probably benefit by avoiding that matchup. Khaliq Spicer found himself in some early foul trouble on Friday. KSU needs to be able to keep him on the floor and give him some help defensively against Johnson, who can struggle with his decision making against a hard double team.

It will be interesting to see how much of an impact Pat Forsythe has on tonight's game. After missing Friday's game in Kent due to turf toe, the 6-foot-11 junior has seen limited action for Akron in its first two MAC Tournament games. Hall, Spicer, Ortiz and the rest of the Flashes front line players need to attack when Forsythe is on the floor, and guards need to penetrate and force him to move laterally. Forsythe struggled against Western Michigan, picking up some quick fouls as he looked a step slow.

The Flashes also need to be aggressive defensively against freshman point guard Antino Jackson. Having almost a full week off should benefit Derek Jackson in that matchup. Speeding up Antino Jackson should be a goal. Last week, Derek Jackson spent most of the game matched up against Nyles Evans.

Kwan Cheatham and Reggie McAdams gave Kent State all kinds of problems on Friday. The Flashes should adjust by doing a better job of closing out and forcing contested twos rather than allowing open threes.

Defending the three has been such a staple of Kent State's season. But it has been a weakness over the last few weeks, starting with the final nine minutes at Oxford on Feb. 7.

If Akron gets hot in this one, anything is possible. Kent State will probably try to force the issue to test the Zips' legs. Akron is as good a half-court defensive team as there is. To counter that, Kent State needs turn defensive stops into transition opportunities. Akron is shorthanded and playing its third game in four nights. Force the Zips to defend in transition.

Live Blog: Men's Basketball Senior Night vs. Akron

SECOND HALF

FINAL: Kent State 79-77

Kris Brewer with a driving layup at the buzzer wins it.

The Golden Flashes are regular-season co-champions of the Mid-American Conference.

For the minute-by-minute, check the @CarducciKSU and @KentStMBB twitter accounts.


1:55 ... First Ibitayo fouled out for Akron. Now the Zips have lost Isaiah Johnson to his 5th foul. Johnson has been very good tonight with 14 points and 6 rebounds.

Kris Brewer has 16 points, all in the second half.

Jimmy Hall's defense has been possibly the biggest key to the Flashes owning a 70-67 lead at this point, blocking five shots to go with his 15-point, 6-rebound night.

Manley will go to the line, trying to add to this 3-point lead.

4:00 ... Kent State built an 8-point lead on a 10-0 run, but Akron has answered with back-to-back threes by Antino Jackson and Reggie McAdams.

Akron back within 2 at 67-65 after just being up 8.

Senderoff just took a timeout.

6:18 ... Kris Brewer was scoreless at halftime. He now has 11 points, including a transition 3 pointer that made Kent State the first to get to 60 with a 61-59 lead

First team to 60 in this rivalry has won 33 of last 35 in series.

Flashes are on a 6-0 run that includes some good work by Chris Ortiz, going 3-for-4 from line and adding some good work on the offensive glass.

Dambrot took this timeout.

Can the Flashes turn this 6-0 spurt into a bigger run and take control of this game?

Crowd has gone from scared to louder than at any time tonight and into this game!

This run started after Johnson picked up his 4th foul for Akron. Having his big body out has been a big key.

7:55 ... A driving layup by Ibitayo drawing a foul has given Akron a 59-57 lead at the timeout.

Kent State coaches are insisting an Akron player touched the rim before the ball fell in, but the officials are not going to look at it.

Ibitayo can put the Zips up by 3 if he makes the free throw with 7:55 to go.

11:18 ... Akron showing a great deal of fight.

Defense has not been good over last five or six minutes as Akron is getting what it wants at the rim, and now mixing in some threes.

Flashes need to pull it together as Akron is playing free and loose while the Flashes are playing like every possession means the season.

Right now it is tied 51-51.

15:46 ... Kent State up 43-36 at the first media timeout of the second half. 

A few questionable calls have hurt the Flashes here as the officials missed an obvious five-second call on a double team of Isaiah Johnson in the left post. Johnson was closely guarded on a double team for more like 11 seconds. The no call turned into a 3-pointer by Antino Jackson.

Derek Jackson has 21 points on a steal and a layup to kick the lead back out to 7 points.

The officials also got razzed by the fans for a questionable call claiming Derek Jackson stepped out while saving the basketball on the baseline, robbing the Flashes of a 3-pointer that would have the Flashes up by double digits.

Second half is clearly going to be a war.

Akron showing a great deal of heart shorthanded.

FIRST HALF

HALFTIME: Kent State leads 37-29

And how about this ... late in the first half at Kalamazoo and Buffalo, Western Michigan has a double-digit lead on Central Michigan and Bowling Green has a double-digit lead on Buffalo.

If all of these scores hold up, Kent State would have the No. 1 seed in the MAC Tournament and claim the overall MAC Regular Season Championship.


3:16 ... Jimmy Hall just gave a Dikembe Mutombo finger wave after easily blocking a Antino Jackson layup on the fast break.

The young Jackson needed to better aware of what was going on as he tried to go coast-to-coast on a 1-on-4 that had Hall in front of him and Spicer chasing down a block of his own.

The KSU lead is 33-25.

Jackson has 19 points. He drilled three free throws after getting whacked on another three-point attempt.

6:12 ... Derek Jackson is on fire. He has 16 points on 5-for-5 shooting, including 3-of-3 from three-point range, and the Flashes take a 25-18 lead into the timeout.

The Flashes watched Akron pull within 4 points at one point as the Flashes settled for a few quick shots.

That happens sometimes when you start out as hot as KSU did in this one. You start to think you can make everything and stop running your stuff in favor of that first look. You almost can't wait to get the ball up to the rim.

Since that little stretch, though, the Flashes have settled down a bit. KSU is 8-for-16 from the field and 4-of-8 from three.

Akron is 7-for-16 overall and 3-of-9 from the arc.

Cheatham has 8 of Akron's 18 and is playing very well.

11:58 ... An 18-3 run by the Golden Flashes  after the 6-0 start for Akron has the Zips looking a bit rattled.

Nothing is coming easy for Akron on the offensive end. Kent State is getting great looks on the other end, going 6-for-9 from the field and 3-for-5.

The last 3-pointer turned into a 4-point play as Derek Jackson hit from 22 feet while getting whacked by Akron's Isiah Johnson.

KSU is 6-for-9 from field and 3-for-5 from three-point range.

15:11 ... Kent State takes a 10-9 lead into the first break, handling a quick 6-0 start by Akron on threes by Jake Kretzer and Kwan Cheatham.

Kent State is getting some good looks inside with some nice passing and with guards like Derek Jackson in attack mode. 

Devareaux Manley became the first Kent State player to make 100 threes in one season with a connection at around the 19-minute to get the Flashes on the scoreboard.

Spicer has a big two-handed dunk on a great find by Kris Brewer.

The Flashes are shooting 4-for-6 from the field and 2-for-3 from three-point range.

PREGAME

On paper, Kent State has to like its chances against a University of Akron team that has taken some significant hits to its roster due to injury.

This is a rivalry game, though, and anything can happen. It's also a rivalry game with one of the best coaches in mid-major college basketball on the opposite sideline.  My bet is Keith Dambrot finds a wrinkle that will keep this game close. He won't have any trouble motivating the Zips, even with key players like center Pat Forsythe (foot) and Noah Robotham (knee) missing.

Without Forsythe, the Zips will likely focus even more on three-point shooting. They already rank 1st in the MAC and 4th nationally in terms of percentage of points coming from beyond the three-point arc at 42 percent.

If Akron gets hot, anything is possible. The Flashes need to close out in control, challenge every three, and force the Zips into contested twos.

Freshman point guard Antino Jackson is capable of hurting the Flashes from long range. He shoots the three at 32 percent. Nyles Evans is a 39 percent shooter who can also hit the three off of ball screens and switches. Aaron Jackson is the third guard in the starting lineup, and he hits his catch-and-shoot threes at a 33-percent clip. Jake Kretzer starts at the four and shoots the three at a little better than 32 percent. Off the bench, Reggie McAdams is a worry. The 6-foot-7 junior shoots 42 percent from beyond the arc and can sizzle off the bench. He has a 31-point night this season.

Akron attempts 28 threes per game this season. It could shoot as many as 40 tonight.

The Zips are also a very good defensive team in the half court, but without Forsythe, it will be interesting to see if they can defend post ups as well as they have all season (9th nationally this season).

Look for KSU to test that interior defense by going inside to Jimmy Hall early and often. Remember, Hall was missing when the Zips beat the Flashes in Akron last month.

KSU will need to try to get easy baskets in transition.

It's senior night for Devareaux Manley, Kris Brewer and Derek Jackson. They should be ready for this one, although we've seen seniors struggle before under the pressure of playing in front of friends and family in their last game at the M.A.C. Center. Hit a few early and that pressure should be ease.

Live Blog: Men's Basketball at Bowling Green

SECOND HALF

FINAL ... Kent State 81, Bowling Green 80

Crazy finish ... Check out @CarducciKSU and @KentStMBB for the updates.

Manley 3 late gave KSU the lead. Free throws by Manley and Hall clinched it.

2:24 ... Threes by Derek Jackson and Kris Brewer have cut the BGSU lead to just 2 points.

The Flashes just got a 35-second violation on the other end to get the ball back.

3:43 ... Officiating has been tough for Kent State. BGSU getting a ton of calls. Kent State can't get one.

Flashes down 6 at 3:36.

6:20 ... Kent State showing some heart as Jackson has cut the BGSU lead to just two with a pretty driving layup, finishing on the other end of the rim.

The Falcons are getting quite a bit out of crashing the boards and not getting called for over the back. KSU needs to be just as aggressive on the other end since there are no whistles coming.

David Joseph, who is extremely limited offensively at 3.9 ppg and 27.5 pct from field (18pct from three), has really hurt the Flashes. The point guard is 2-for-2 from three and 4-for-5 overall with 10 points, 4 assists and 4 rebounds.

For the second game in a row, the Flashes are watching the unexpected players give them trouble.

9:09 ... Kris Brewer just drilled another three to force a BGSU timeout.

Great drive and kick by Jackson on the play, bringing some movement back to the Flashes offense.

Brewer is 5-of-6 from the field and 4-of-5 from 3-point range.

11:43 ... Brewer with a driving layup and Jimmy Hall with a 15-footer have helped Kent State somewhat stem the tide of a big Bowling Green run.

After being down 11 in the opening minutes, the Falcons surged into a 6-point lead at around the 13-minute mark.

Brewer just hit a driving layup while drawing a foul. The missed attempt to convert the three-point play was the Flashes first miss from the foul line tonight, but KSU still managed to maintain possession as BGSU knocked the ball out of bounds.

Unfortunately, Manley traveled while on a handoff in front of the KSU bench, giving the ball back to the Falcons after this timeout.

Defense has really turned up a notch for BGSU.

16:40 ... Kent State lead is down to 1 at 47-46 with the Flashes inbounding after this media timeout.

Sadly, the lead is down to 1 after it had swelled to 11 following back-to-back 3's by Manley and Jackson to open the half.

Just as they did against Buffalo early in the second half, the Flashes have committed a few careless turnovers ... back-to-back by Manley and Jackson again, and the Falcons took advantage in this 10-0 run.

Holmes now has 19 points. And he is being guarded by Jimmy Hall now after foul trouble for Khaliq Spicer.

Senderoff received a bench warning heading into the timeout.

FIRST HALF

HALFTIME ... Kent State takes a 41-36 lead into the half. It was almost 41-33, but BGSU's Clarke hit a three-quarter court prayer at the buzzer to answer a corner three by Dev Manley with 4 seconds to go before halftime.

Hall checked back in late and picked up his second foul. He still should be fresh for the second half.

Manley leads the Flashes with 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting from three-point range.

Brewer has 9 and Jackson 7 in a balanced scoring effort that has several Flashes with multiple buckets.

Holmes has been a load for BGSU with 14 points.

Key numbers: Flashes shooting 50 pct from the field (14-for-28), 58.3 pct from 3 (7-for-12) and a perfect 6-for-6 from the foul line.


3:12 ... Criag Brown with a 15-footer followed by a stop and a Derek Jackson 3-pointer.

The Flashes take  34-27 lead and force BGSU to take a timeout.

The good news is this little run has come with Jimmy Hall getting an extended rest on the bench.

A 19-6 run.

6:10 ... Kris Brewer with three consecutive three-pointers, all from the top and all hitting nothing but net, has kept Kent State in this one, breaking the team out of an offensive funk.

The Flashes don't have an answer on the other end, though, for Holmes, who is 5-for-9 from the field and has 12 points. Maybe the double has to come a little sooner. Get the ball out of his hands earlier in the possession.

Kent State's defense has been better with the exception of allowing a few baseline drives by Falcons guards.

11:06 ... Kent State survived an extended stretch with Jimmy Hall on the bench. Down just 17-15 now, but with the ball coming out of this timeout. Hall is checking back in along with the rest of the starters.

The Flashes spent that time with Hall out playing 1-3-1 with Lawrence at the top of the defense, trying to create some havoc.

15:34 ... Bowling Green comes in ranked 10th in the MAC in 3-point shooting and 235th in the country at 32 percent... but the Falcons are already 3-for-4 tonight and that's why they are up 13-11.

Even David Joseph at 18-pct from the season has hit a wide-open 3 after Richaun Holmes found him out of the double team. Holmes is 2-for-2 from the the top of the circle.

Manley is off to a good start for the Flashes, hitting a 3 on the first possession for Kent State. He has 5 total. Jimmy Hall has 4 points on a 2-for-2 start.

PREGAME

Another big game for the Golden Flashes, who as everyone knows by know sit one game behind Bowling Green in the East Division standings and also in a bunch that has five teams all within one game in the Mid-American Conference's overall standings.

The task is pretty simple for the Flashes. Unless they want to rely on getting a whole lot of unlikely help, win tonight and then again on Friday at home against Akron to get a top 4 and possibly even a top 2 seed in next week's MAC Tournament.

If you've watched this team over the last few weeks, you've seen how extended minutes have impacted the stamina of its senior guards. It's hard to blame Derek Jackson, Devareaux Manley and Kris Brewer for being gassed as the loss of Kellon Thomas and a decision to redshirt several players has left an already slim roster with only the three guards on scholarship. Without at least one bye as a top-4 seed, its hard to imagine already tired legs having the ability to win five games in six days next week as a play-in to Cleveland. It's just a whole lot to ask.

So, how do you win these next two games, and specifically tonight at the Stroh Center, where the men's team has never won?

First, the Flashes have to get back to playing the defense that had them in the driver's seat to claim the No. 1 seed in the MAC Tournament just one week ago. Boy, that seems like a long time ago, doesn't it. So much has changed since Miami scored on its final 16 possessions while coming back from a 19-point second-half deficit in Oxford. Ken Pomeroy's website determined the odds of that comeback as 0.6-percent.

Once again, KSU faces a team that will try to score in transition. The Falcons backcourt doesn't do a great deal of scoring, but it pushes the ball, and the bigs run the floor. 

Attention obviously must be paid to Richaun Holmes, who averages 14.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per night and scored 20 points with 5 rebounds and 4 assists against the Flashes back in January. Holmes will turn the ball over, however, so the Flashes need to be aggressive with double teams and help Khaliq Spicer every time Holmes gets the ball in the post. 

Jackson may get a bit of a break against David Joseph, the Falcons point guard, who is strictly a pass-first point guard averaging 3.9 points per game and shooting only 27.5 percent from the field and 17 percent from three. Considering his inability to score, the opportunity is there to sit back and keep him out of the paint, where he is most dangerous on drive-and-kicks to teammates.

Jehvon Clarke, Anthony Henderson and Spencer Parker make up the rest of an undersized lineup that along with Joseph stands 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 and 6-7 from 1-to-4 along with Holmes' 6-8. Zack Denny, a 6-2 sophomore, provides some pop off the bench, averaging 9.7 points per game and shooting it at around 40-percent from both the field and three. 

At 32 percent, this is one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the country, and the Flashes have to keep them below that average. The Flashes gave away a big lead to BGSU in Kent in large part because of unexpected late threes by Falcons bigs. Surprises like that tonight could end KSU's hopes for a bye.

Spencer Parker came into that game averaging 7 ppg and scored 16. He's bettered that total only once all year. The Falcons were also 8-for-15 from the arc against the Flashes in January, and four of those threes were uncontested.

The Falcons are as good as it gets defensively in the MAC, ranking No. 1 in the league in defensive efficiency, No. 15 in the nation in half-court efficiency, and 10th in the country in press defensive efficiency. With the rate at which the Falcons turn teams over (21 percent), KSU's basketball IQ has to be higher than it has been in the last week.

Another 14-turnover game like the one the Flashes suffered through against BGSU in January would be disastrous. 

Jimmy Hall had a big game against the Falcons with 25 points and 7 rebounds in his MAC debut. Look for him to be the focal point of the offense tonight. The Flashes have gotten into trouble at times when they have stopped running the offense through him in the post. Hall was one of the few players to really show some fire last week against Buffalo. Watching him even now in pre game, you get the feeling that the sophomore is taking the last week personally.

Remember, the Flashes didn't have Derek Jackson the last time they faced BGSU. I have a feeling he'll be ready for this one. According to Senderoff, Jackson feels like he "let the team down" by not being available for the January game. He's looking to make up for that.