Kent State wins 13th in a row, will face Ohio – News-Herald

No. 2 Kent State entered the 2022 Mid-American Conference Tournament as the hottest team in the league behind 12 straight victories. Kent then pushed that up a notch No. 13 with an 85-65 triumph early Thursday evening over the No. 7 Miami RedHawks in Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.

Only Kent didn’t see the latest triumph as an upward spiral .

“We already stopped our winning streak,’’ guard Sincere Carry said as a mark to end the regular season. “This was just one.”

The Flashes advanced to the 7:30 p.m. MAC semifinal against Ohio University who defeated Ball State, 77-67, looking every bit like the defending MAC Tournament champions and not a team that lost three straight and four of its last five games to end the regular season. The opening semifinal at 5 p.m. has No. 1 Toledo vs. No. 4 Akron.

The Cardinals started hot, taking a 21-15 lead over the Bobcats. But that was followed by a 2-of-15 shooting stretch that saw the Bobcats come back to take the lead, then nurse it into the halftime locker room, ahead 36-35. Both teams were hot behind the arc – 6-of-15 for BSU, 6-of-14 for Ohio — and equal with rebounds, 31-31, pointing toward a second half defined by the team that could separate from the other.

That proved to be the Bobcats as a slim 55-51 lead with just under 10 minutes to play in the game ballooned to 72-52 inside the final five minutes and 6-8 Jason Carter owned the paint with 20 points and 18 rebounds. The Bobcats and Flashes split their regular season matchups with both teams winning on their home court.

For Kent head coach Rob Senderoff, who was pleased with Carry’s line in the sand, this ‘first’ victory still told a story many teams are telling as post season basketball is going on around the country.

“When you play in March, when you get one win, you’re hot,” Senderoff said.

The Golden Flashes were led by junior Malique Jacobs with 21 points and 11 rebounds as four KSU players overall finished in double figures.

The first half Kent built a 41-32 lead as Carry, the MAC Player of the Year, scored 10 points with four assists to offset the early hot hand of Miami’s Dae Dae Grant (15 points) from Lorain, as KSU shot 51.6 percent from the field overall and a creditable 7-of-18 on 3-pointers with a pair from senior transfer Andrew Garcia (12 points).

Carry, like the rest of the Golden Flashes, cooled considerably in the second half offensively. But Carry (15 points), the product of Solon High, was still making his presence felt with more than six minutes to play having eight assists already in the books. Kent’s lead would grow to 73-54 inside the last four minutes before Miami applied some backcourt pressure extending the game.

The RedHawks would close within six late, but Kent State free throws were the difference.

“At times, we beat ourselves,’’ Grant said. “That was a key aspect to the game.”

Miami coach Jack Owens said his team just just had too much to overcome with injuries and Covid throughout the season.

“We battled, we just didn’t get it done,’’ he said. “They (Kent) made some shots as well, but at the end of the day we have to be better.”