SECOND HALF
FINAL ... KENT STATE 71, NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE 57
Devareaux Manley goes 7-of-10 from three-point range and scores a team-high 24.
Kris Brewer added 11 points.
North Carolina A&T's Bruce Beckford and Kent State's Gary Akbar in a shoving match after the game. Beckford had to be pulled from the floor by his teammates as he ripped off his shooting shirt.
Beckford finished with 11 points on just 5-of-14 shooting, including 0-for-4 from three-point range as he was hounded by Kent State's defense all night long. Beckford ended up with five of his team's 23 turnovers. Austin Williams turned the ball over 11 times.
The Aggies turned the ball over 23 times leading to a 29-9 advantage for KSU on points off of turnovers.
2:38 ... A steal and bust-out dunk with two hands by Derek Jackson followed by a 3-pointer from the right wing by Devareaux Manley have helped Kent State kick the lead back out to double digits at 61-49.
Manley now has 21 points on 6-of-9 shooting from three-point range. He is the only Kent State player in double figures tonight. The senior is 6-of-9 from three-point range and the Flashes are 8-of-20 overall ... 8-of-15 after their 0-for-5 start.
Kent State defense has forced 23 turnovers now and blocked seven shots.
7:56 ... The Aggies have been a poor three-point shooting team so far, but some threes by Arturs Bremers have helped to keep them in this game. Bremers is 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, and he just hit a contested three over Gary Akbar.
Akbar will head to the foul line out of this time out, however, with a chance to answer. Akbar is 0-for-4 from the line so far tonight.
Good to see Dev Manley ready to check back in after suffering a leg injury. Couldn't afford to be without him for any period of time, tonight or beyond.
10:23 ... The 15-point Kent State lead is down to six at 46-40.
The Flashes continue to get outworked on the boards. An offensive rebound and outback by Beckford just before this timeout by head coach Rob Senderoff has continued a mini run for the Aggies.
Beckford nas 11.
The Flashes continue to struggle from the foul line. Kent State is now 10-of-23 after two misses by Akbar.
Make free throws and this game may have been over a while ago.
11:48 ... The Kent State lead is 45-35.
The Flashes have forced 22 turnovers leading to a 27-9 advantage in points off of turnovers. While the defense has been good, the Aggies have been very sloppy. Many of the turnovers have been unforced.
North Carolina A&T has outworked Kent State on the boards, however, with a 20-14 lead in rebounding and a 7-2 advantage in second-chance points.
15:50 ... Devareaux Manley's back-to-back threes have helped Kent State start to pull away early in the second half. A 10-2 start has the Flashes up 42-27.
Devareaux Manley goes 7-of-10 from three-point range and scores a team-high 24.
Kris Brewer added 11 points.
North Carolina A&T's Bruce Beckford and Kent State's Gary Akbar in a shoving match after the game. Beckford had to be pulled from the floor by his teammates as he ripped off his shooting shirt.
Beckford finished with 11 points on just 5-of-14 shooting, including 0-for-4 from three-point range as he was hounded by Kent State's defense all night long. Beckford ended up with five of his team's 23 turnovers. Austin Williams turned the ball over 11 times.
The Aggies turned the ball over 23 times leading to a 29-9 advantage for KSU on points off of turnovers.
2:38 ... A steal and bust-out dunk with two hands by Derek Jackson followed by a 3-pointer from the right wing by Devareaux Manley have helped Kent State kick the lead back out to double digits at 61-49.
Manley now has 21 points on 6-of-9 shooting from three-point range. He is the only Kent State player in double figures tonight. The senior is 6-of-9 from three-point range and the Flashes are 8-of-20 overall ... 8-of-15 after their 0-for-5 start.
Kent State defense has forced 23 turnovers now and blocked seven shots.
7:56 ... The Aggies have been a poor three-point shooting team so far, but some threes by Arturs Bremers have helped to keep them in this game. Bremers is 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, and he just hit a contested three over Gary Akbar.
Akbar will head to the foul line out of this time out, however, with a chance to answer. Akbar is 0-for-4 from the line so far tonight.
Good to see Dev Manley ready to check back in after suffering a leg injury. Couldn't afford to be without him for any period of time, tonight or beyond.
10:23 ... The 15-point Kent State lead is down to six at 46-40.
The Flashes continue to get outworked on the boards. An offensive rebound and outback by Beckford just before this timeout by head coach Rob Senderoff has continued a mini run for the Aggies.
Beckford nas 11.
The Flashes continue to struggle from the foul line. Kent State is now 10-of-23 after two misses by Akbar.
Make free throws and this game may have been over a while ago.
11:48 ... The Kent State lead is 45-35.
The Flashes have forced 22 turnovers leading to a 27-9 advantage in points off of turnovers. While the defense has been good, the Aggies have been very sloppy. Many of the turnovers have been unforced.
North Carolina A&T has outworked Kent State on the boards, however, with a 20-14 lead in rebounding and a 7-2 advantage in second-chance points.
15:50 ... Devareaux Manley's back-to-back threes have helped Kent State start to pull away early in the second half. A 10-2 start has the Flashes up 42-27.
Manley has 15 points on 4-of-6 shooting from three-point range. He is also 3-of-4 from the foul line.
Gary Akbar is doing some very nice things, opening things up in the Aggies zone with penetration and finding teammates.
FIRST HALF
3:48 ... Kris Brewer has added a three and Spicer has another two-handed dunk on a pretty pick and roll from Brewer, but even as the offensive play has picked up a bit, the Flashes haven't been able to open up any distance from North Carolina A&T. KSU leads just 25-23.
The Flashes defense has been pretty solid so far, forcing 10 turnovers.
Khary Doby has been very good for the Aggies so far with 8 points.
NCA&T is just a 60 percent team from the foul line, but so far they are 7-of-8 – a big reason the Aggies are keeping it close as the Flashes are playing aggressive defense on the interior, willing to send them to the line.
7:47 ... Play is a bit better for the Flashes over the last few minutes, especially on the defensive end. A Gary Akbar steal led to a Derek Jackson breakaway slam to give the Flashes a brief lead at 16-14.
But that was followed by a second-chance bucket by the Aggies' Beckford, who will have a chance to finish off a three-point play at the end of this possession.
The Flashes are finally off the snide from beyond the arc as Dev Manley drilled a three from the right wing at around the nine-minute mark.
10:40 ... Some pretty ugly offensive play on both ends.
The Flashes are 4-of-12 from the field, 0-for-5 from three-point range and 2-of-7 from the foul line.
Since Jimmy Hall checked out, the offense has struggled. The Flashes ran the ball through him against the Aggies' 2-3 zone in the early going and got good shots ... they just didn't hit them.
Khaliq Spicer is playing well early, though. His 2-handed slam on a fast break helped end a drought.
15:36 ... Golden Flashes lead 7-4 at the first timeout, and defense is leading the way again as Derek Jackson has a great steal to a breakaway layup that ended up in a three-point play.
Jimmy Hall is also off to a good start with four points, two coming at the end of a solid possession for the 6-foot-7 sophomore as he found a wide-open shooter in the corner with a touch pass from the elbow, then found his way to position on the weak side for a rebound and putback.
So far, 3 turnovers for North Carolina A&T.
PREGAME
It has been interesting to see how much the added length at the four and five spots has actually helped the Golden Flashes defend the three. Guarding the three was an emphasis of head coach Rob Senderoff in the preseason, and you can see the work this roster has put in to make it difficult for opponents to get good looks from beyond the arc.
Adding long-armed bigs who can challenge at the rim like Jimmy Hall and Marquize Lawrence to a group that already included the improving Khaliq Spicer and Chris Ortiz has allowed Derek Jackson, Kris Brewer and (prior to his injury) Kellon Thomas to get out on the perimeter and challenge three-point shooters. Makes (4.2 per game) and attempts (13.2) from beyond the arc are down for opponents. Both numbers put Kent State at 11th in the nation.
The stats for defending the three should get even better against North Carolina A&T State University. The Aggies are shooting a very poor 24.7 percent (54-for-219) from three during their 1-11 start to the season. NC A&T may also be more than a little leg weary tonight as they play the final game of 11 consecutive on the road.
Defensively, the Flashes will be focusing on stopping 6-foot-7 forward Bruce Beckford, who is averaging team-best 15.4 points and 8.0 rebounds per night. He is the only Aggie scoring in double figures followed by 6-6 forward Khary Doby (8.0 ppg). The Aggies like to isolate Beckford on the block. While he's the taller of the forwards, he will play mostly the three spot and will likely be guarded initially by Kent State junior Gary Akbar. Look for the Flashes to give help whenever Beckford catches the ball on the block.
Austin Williams is a good lead guard who likes to push the ball in transition. He is strictly a get-to-the-basket scorer, though, shooting just 31 pct from the field and 11.1 from 3-point range. About 60 percent of the Aggies points come in the paint. They are also an active team on the offensive boards.
The Flashes don't need to do anything fancy on defense. A&T turns the ball over 26 percent of the time, which is 337th in the nation. Turnovers to easy points in transition are the goal for KSU.
This is also a game when Kent State can err on the side of being physical as the Aggies want to score inside, but they are shooting just 60 percent from the foul line this season. Of course, that's better than Kent State's 59.1 percent from the line so far.
North Carolina A&T plays mostly zone. The Flashes are the nation's top 3-point shooting team at 45.2 percent against Division I opponents, but that's mostly because they haven't allowed themselves to settle for the three. KSU's attempts from beyond the arc are down from last season, and when shots do go up from long range, they usually come from good inside-out action with Jackson and Brewer getting into the middle of the defense or Jimmy Hall beating the double team and kicking to open shooters.
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