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.