SECOND HALF
FIRST HALF
0:00 ... Cleveland State takes a 30-28 lead at halftime on a 3-pointer by Bryn Forbes at the buzzer.
Derek Jackson had put the Flashes on top briefly at 28-27 with a pair of free throws with 24 seconds to play.
Jackson leads all scorers with 10 points at the break.
Marlin Mason has eight points to lead the Vikings – three better than his season scoring average.
Cleveland State's guards have been held in check for the most part through the first 20 minutes. Prior to that three by Forbes at the buzzer, all three starting guards for the Vikings and been held to one field goal each.
The hot shooting from the perimeter early was mostly pick-and-pop shooting by the forwards, and in particular Marlin Mason, who is 2-for-2 from three. The 6-foot-6 forward came in averaging just over 5 points per game. He has 8 in the first half.
I talked to assistant coach Bobby Steinburg here at halftime, and he said the keys to the second half are playing more inside out and not settling for the first jumper. He said Senderoff is also concerned with turnovers (8 against 7 assists) and the fact that CSU is beating KSU to loose balls.
1:04 ... Three consecutive stops on defense by Kent State and the Flashes have a chance to take the lead coming out of this timeout. Flashes trail 27-26 after an 18-foot baseline jumper by Melvin Tabb, who drew the foul on the shot and converted the free throw.
An offensive foul on Tabb trying to fight for position inside gives ball back to CSU.
3:39 ... Kent State wants to get out and score in transition... problem is, Cleveland State got off to a pretty hot-shooting start. While the Vikings have cooled a bit to just under 50 percent, Kent State only just scored its first fast-break point on a layup by Melvin Tabb.
Kent State trails 25-21.
Cleveland State's defense has been very good, using hard hedges to push KSU's offense further and further out on the perimeter.
7:54 ... Flashes hanging in through a somewhat tough-shooting start. They trail Cleveland State 20-17. Derek Jackson leading the Flashes with eight points on 3-of-3 from the field including 2-of-2 from three-point range.
KSU just called for its first foul more than 12 minutes in.
10:49 ... Four pretty ugly minutes for Kent State between timeouts. Only basket was a transition three by K.K. Simmons.
Cleveland State's lead is now 18-12. The Flashes are having a difficult time with the pick-and-pop shooting by the Viking forwards.
CSU is sizzling from three-point range, hitting four of its first five from the arc.
14:08 ... A nice flow to the first six minutes of this game ... and that's thanks in large part to D.J. Carstensen, Frank Spencer and Chuck Bullock allowing the two teams to play.
PREGAME
0:00 ... Final from the M.A.C. Center, Cleveland State beats Kent State 78-70
0:38 ... Kent State made a run to cut CSU's lead to three with almost two minutes ... but too many empty possessions after that point.
KSU trails 72-67 now, hoping for a miracle and some missed CSU free throws.
3:59 ... A chance to get something going here for Kent State as Goodson hit a three from the corner on inside-out action from Henniger ... That was followed by a steal by Henniger as KSU forced a turnover with full-court pressure.
Henniger now heading to the foul line after grabbing an offensive rebound. If the 95-pct shooter form the foul line hits both, it will pull Kent State back to within six points. The lead now is 66-58 for CSU.
5:13 ... Flashes continue to get out-worked. Now down 64-54 after giving up an easy offensive rebound and putback.
6:32 ... The lead is 60-54 for Cleveland State. Kent State will have the ball coming out of this timeout after Kris Brewer was trapped in the corner. All of the hustle plays right now are coming from the Cleveland State side.
Flashes also not helping themselves by splitting just about every pair from the foul line. The 55th best free-throw shooting team in the country is making just 62-percent tonight.
7:31 ... Cleveland State out-hustling Kent State over last two minutes, taking a 56-51 lead... Some careless passing by the Flashes, and also giving up too many second-chance opportunities during this mini run by the Vikings.
Momentum has clearly shifted in Cleveland State's favor.
The Vikings will have Jon Harris going to the line trying to extend the lead to 7 out of this timeout.
9:38 ... Kent State and Cleveland State are tied, 50-50 ... but some bad news as Darren Goodson had to be helped from the floor after an apparent leg injury suffered under the CSU basket.
11:56 ... Flashes down 48-42 and struggling a bit from the foul line. Derek Jackson leads all scorers with 16, but he is just 6-for-11 from the foul line. The good thing is he is attacking the rim and is a big reason the Flashes have drawn 6 CSU fouls compared to just one called on KSU.
Kent State needs to get Kris Brewer going. The point guard has just 2 points on 1-of-3 shooting.
14:55 ... Kent State trails Cleveland State 39-38 in a very entertaining game.
0:38 ... Kent State made a run to cut CSU's lead to three with almost two minutes ... but too many empty possessions after that point.
KSU trails 72-67 now, hoping for a miracle and some missed CSU free throws.
3:59 ... A chance to get something going here for Kent State as Goodson hit a three from the corner on inside-out action from Henniger ... That was followed by a steal by Henniger as KSU forced a turnover with full-court pressure.
Henniger now heading to the foul line after grabbing an offensive rebound. If the 95-pct shooter form the foul line hits both, it will pull Kent State back to within six points. The lead now is 66-58 for CSU.
5:13 ... Flashes continue to get out-worked. Now down 64-54 after giving up an easy offensive rebound and putback.
6:32 ... The lead is 60-54 for Cleveland State. Kent State will have the ball coming out of this timeout after Kris Brewer was trapped in the corner. All of the hustle plays right now are coming from the Cleveland State side.
Flashes also not helping themselves by splitting just about every pair from the foul line. The 55th best free-throw shooting team in the country is making just 62-percent tonight.
7:31 ... Cleveland State out-hustling Kent State over last two minutes, taking a 56-51 lead... Some careless passing by the Flashes, and also giving up too many second-chance opportunities during this mini run by the Vikings.
Momentum has clearly shifted in Cleveland State's favor.
The Vikings will have Jon Harris going to the line trying to extend the lead to 7 out of this timeout.
9:38 ... Kent State and Cleveland State are tied, 50-50 ... but some bad news as Darren Goodson had to be helped from the floor after an apparent leg injury suffered under the CSU basket.
11:56 ... Flashes down 48-42 and struggling a bit from the foul line. Derek Jackson leads all scorers with 16, but he is just 6-for-11 from the foul line. The good thing is he is attacking the rim and is a big reason the Flashes have drawn 6 CSU fouls compared to just one called on KSU.
Kent State needs to get Kris Brewer going. The point guard has just 2 points on 1-of-3 shooting.
14:55 ... Kent State trails Cleveland State 39-38 in a very entertaining game.
Darren Goodson has picked up his game in the second half. He got it started with his passing, finding Jackson on a give-and-go for a layup, then hitting Dev Manley for an open three.
Goodson also has a couple of difficult buckets in the paint.
Derek Jackson will be at the foul line for three shots after getting fouled on a second-chance jumper created by a Melvin Tabb offensive rebound and find.
FIRST HALF
0:00 ... Cleveland State takes a 30-28 lead at halftime on a 3-pointer by Bryn Forbes at the buzzer.
Derek Jackson had put the Flashes on top briefly at 28-27 with a pair of free throws with 24 seconds to play.
Jackson leads all scorers with 10 points at the break.
Marlin Mason has eight points to lead the Vikings – three better than his season scoring average.
Cleveland State's guards have been held in check for the most part through the first 20 minutes. Prior to that three by Forbes at the buzzer, all three starting guards for the Vikings and been held to one field goal each.
The hot shooting from the perimeter early was mostly pick-and-pop shooting by the forwards, and in particular Marlin Mason, who is 2-for-2 from three. The 6-foot-6 forward came in averaging just over 5 points per game. He has 8 in the first half.
I talked to assistant coach Bobby Steinburg here at halftime, and he said the keys to the second half are playing more inside out and not settling for the first jumper. He said Senderoff is also concerned with turnovers (8 against 7 assists) and the fact that CSU is beating KSU to loose balls.
1:04 ... Three consecutive stops on defense by Kent State and the Flashes have a chance to take the lead coming out of this timeout. Flashes trail 27-26 after an 18-foot baseline jumper by Melvin Tabb, who drew the foul on the shot and converted the free throw.
An offensive foul on Tabb trying to fight for position inside gives ball back to CSU.
3:39 ... Kent State wants to get out and score in transition... problem is, Cleveland State got off to a pretty hot-shooting start. While the Vikings have cooled a bit to just under 50 percent, Kent State only just scored its first fast-break point on a layup by Melvin Tabb.
Kent State trails 25-21.
Cleveland State's defense has been very good, using hard hedges to push KSU's offense further and further out on the perimeter.
7:54 ... Flashes hanging in through a somewhat tough-shooting start. They trail Cleveland State 20-17. Derek Jackson leading the Flashes with eight points on 3-of-3 from the field including 2-of-2 from three-point range.
KSU just called for its first foul more than 12 minutes in.
10:49 ... Four pretty ugly minutes for Kent State between timeouts. Only basket was a transition three by K.K. Simmons.
Cleveland State's lead is now 18-12. The Flashes are having a difficult time with the pick-and-pop shooting by the Viking forwards.
CSU is sizzling from three-point range, hitting four of its first five from the arc.
14:08 ... A nice flow to the first six minutes of this game ... and that's thanks in large part to D.J. Carstensen, Frank Spencer and Chuck Bullock allowing the two teams to play.
The first foul of the game was just called almost six minutes in. Derek Jackson will be heading to the foul line coming out of the timeout trying to put the Flashes into the lead. Cleveland State leads 10-9.
Mark Henniger with a nice start, moving his feet on defense and keeping an offensive rebound alive when it looked like two Vikings had it corralled. That led to a 10-footer by Jackson.
Coming out of the timeout Jackson missed both free throws.
PREGAME
6:45 ... Back to the regular starting lineup for Kent State after a few changes during the trip to Charleston.
Manley back in the starting lineup along with Brewer and Jackson at the guards. Goodson starts with Henniger at the forwards.
Cleveland State doesn't have great size, so I'm hoping to see Kent State look inside first, and with the Vikings playing some zone it should give the Flashes some opportunities to get to the offensive glass. The Flashes come into the game ranked No. 55 in the nation in free-throw shooting at .736. Four guys are shooting better than 80 percent, so attack the rim and get to the foul line.
6:10 p.m. ... I'm not sure what kind of a crowd we'll have here at the M.A.C. Center with the students out for the holiday.
Hopefully we'll see 500 fans that may not have been attendance after Kent State's players and coaches gave away tickets at WalMart in Kent just before Christmas.
I talked with Rob Senderoff a little while ago and he said the players found a nice reception from the holiday shoppers.
More importantly, Senderoff said the team is rested and healthy after getting a few days off. Usually there is a player or two who returns to campus late after going home for Christmas. In fact, its often a starter who gets back late and ends up coming off the bench in the first game back. Good weather made it easy for players to find their way back to Kent in time for the first practice.
Just a little guess for tonight ... Darren Goodson will have a good game tonight. Watching him in shoot around he seemed to have a little extra bounce in his step. He was smiling and shooting it very well from the perimeter.
5:32 p.m. ... Kent State is wearing the gold uniforms today. The grey unis took their first loss in the last home game here against Bucknell. The superstitious Flashes usually stick with whatever wins. They won in blue on the road on Saturday at Charleston. KSU flies to Princeton early tomorrow, though, and will need the blues for that game, so with the quick turnaround the Flashes decided to go with gold tonight.
Cleveland State will wear its grey uniforms.
5:25 p.m. ... A reminder that Ty Linder and I will be broadcasting live tonight on WHLO 640 AM with a simulcast on iHeart Radio. Here's the link to the Golden Flashes iHeart station.
As usual, we'd like to make the broadcast more interactive. If anyone has any questions or comments during the game, post them below or tweet them to @CarducciKSU and Ty and I will discuss on the air.
5:03 p.m. ... We are just inside two hours before tipoff between Kent State and Cleveland State here at the M.A.C. Center.
I'm pretty excited to be back after taking a medical leave for a few weeks. My target game to come back was this one, and I'm happy to have been able to make it.
This should be a good one, too. It's still strange for me to see Gary Waters on the visitor's bench here at the M.A.C. Center. It's even stranger for me when Jim Christian is on that bench, and he is here next with Ohio University on Jan. 8. That's a bit of an odd back-to-back at home with two former Kent State head coaches coming to town.
Waters' team at Cleveland State may look a little like some of his old Kent State teams. The Vikings are guard oriented with an offense that loves to run Charlie Lee, Trey Lewis and especially Bryn Forbes off of screens.
Kent State's coaches think Forbes may be the best guard they've seen this season at cutting and getting his shot. He is athletic and has a very quick release. He is averaging a team-best 17.8 points per game with 46.2-percent shooting from three-point range. Of course, Derek Jackson will draw that assignment. It should be the matchup to watch.
Kris Brewer and Dev Manley will also have difficult assignments. I'm guessing Manley will be back in the starting lineup, and if so he will likely guard Lewis, a transfer from Penn State who is averaging 13.9 per game. Lewis likes to drive right, and while he's just a 30-percent shooter from three, he is streaky and capable of getting hot from the perimeter. Brewer would then get Lee, who at 5-foot-8 is a small-but-quick combo guard who can also get hot from long range. He is shooting 41.2 percent from three.
Limiting Miami transfer Jon Harris off of the bench could be a big key to tonight for Kent State. The 6-foot-7 lefty is athletic and a good pick-and-pop shooter. Marlin Mason starts at the four, but Cleveland State is at its best when the lefty Harris is on the floor next to Anton Grady. The Vikings are not particularly big with the 6-8 Grady the tallest of the players getting the bulk of the minutes for Waters. Ismaila Dauda is 6-foot-10 and a 250-pound load, however, who could be on the floor for 6 or 7 minutes.
No comments:
Post a Comment