The Kent State Golden Flashes (19-6, 9-3 MAC), who have not lost in nearly a month, will look to extend their season-high winning streak to eight games when they host the Charleston Cougars (16-11, 8-8 Southern) on Saturday at Memorial A & C Center.
The Golden Flashes are coming off one of their best wins of the season, a comeback 76-71 victory over the Buffalo Bulls on Tuesday. Leading scorer Justin Greene once again led the way in that game with 18 points, but Michael Porrini was the all-around difference-maker, finishing with 16 points on 5-10 shooting along with 6 rebounds and 9 assists.
While the Golden Flashes are heating up at just the right time, they cannot afford to slip up against the Cougars, even though it is not a conference game. That is because Kent State trails the Akron Zips (19-7, 11-1 MAC) by two games in the MAC with only four games remaining, and they are tied with the Buffalo Bulls (16-7, 9-3 MAC). Clearly, the road to a conference tournament championship and automatic bid will be difficult, so Kent State must do everything possible to put themselves in the picture for an at-large bid as well. The latest Bracketology at ESPN does not mention the Golden Flashes.
Kent State's last loss was an 84-75 decision at Akron on Jan. 21.
The game today is scheduled to start at 6:00 p.m. eastern.
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