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.
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.
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.
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.
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