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.