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Kent State Rallies from 5-points down in final minutes, beats Western Michigan in overtime 78-73
College basketball begins the stretch drive to March Madness this weekend and two Mid American Conference teams know they need to start piling up wins if they want to make some noise come tournament time.
The Kent State Golden Flashes(15-6, 5-3), a team used to finding itself at the top of the MAC standings sits in 4th-place in the Eastern Division, 2-games behind division-leading Akron. The Western Michigan Broncos(10-12, 4-4) are just one game behind Eastern Michigan in the West Division, tied with Ball State.
The two teams meet at the Memorial A&C Center on the campus of Kent St. looking to gain some ground. Kent St. has won three straight games after back-to-back losses while the Broncos are just 2-3 in their past 5 games including a 72-48 home-loss to Bowling Green on February 1.
Junior guard Randal Holt leads the Flashes, averaging 13 points per game, while Sophomore center Matt Stainbrook, from Bay Village, leads the Broncos at 12.3 points and 6.7 rebounds.
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Kent State Vs. Western Michigan Score: Flashes Hang On, Beat Broncos In Overtime 78-73
It wasn't easy, but nothing this season for the Kent State Golden Flashes has been. Down 61-56 with 2:11 to go, the Flashes(16-6, 6-3) rallied to send the game to overtime, then dominated the Western Michigan Broncos(10-13, 4-5) to pick up a hard-earned 78-73 win.
Justin Greene led the Flashes with 19 points, 13 in the second half, while Randal Holt scored 13 points. The teams traded leads in the final minutes with the Broncos losing a 5-point lead while the Flashes saw a 64-61 lead with 1:27 left erased.
In overtime, Chris Evans posted his second ESPN Top 10 worthy dunk of the night scoring through traffic for and offensive rebounds and put back dunk. With the Kent State defense keeping Western Michigan off the board Evans capitalized at the foul line scoring the game's next four points to stake the Golden Flashes to a 70-64 lead with a minute and a half to go in the extra period. Holt then pushed the margin to eight with a key block and fast break lay-up.
The Broncos managed to stay in the game just enough and drew within three points after a 3-pointer with 13 seconds to play before a key hustle play by Porrini helped seal the win. Porrini closed out his night with eight rebounds, five assists and four steals.
The Flashes face Eastern Michigan on Wednesday night.
Feb 05 11:10a by John Bena