Kent State men’s basketball bounces back, returns to first place in Mid-American Conference

KENT — After a 12-point loss to the school down the road Feb. 3, the Kent State men’s basketball team is back in first place in the Mid-American Conference four nights later.

The Flashes won at home Tuesday night, defeating Bowling Green 87-64. It was a nice bounce-back effort by the Golden Flashes after losing at archrival Akron on Friday night.

“We didn't share the ball how we’re usually supposed to share it against Akron, so we know when we got back to that, we’re back to Kent State basketball,” said redshirt senior guard Malique Jacobs, who scored 17 points and made seven steals to lead the way Tuesday.

Kent State (19-5, 9-2 MAC) is in a three-way tie atop the MAC with Akron and Toledo. Those two played Tuesday in Akron, with the Rockets winning to create the tie.

In addition to Jacobs, four other Flashes scored double-figures Tuesday. Senior forward Chris Payton and sophomore center Cli’ron Hornbeak each scored 14 points. Redshirt senior forward Miryne Thomas added 12 points and redshirt senior guard Sincere Carry scored 11.

“It’s obviously a great bounce-back win for us – a total team effort,” Kent State coach Rob Senderoff said.

Bowling Green (10-14, 4-7) was led by sophomore guard Kaden Metheny and senior guard Leon Ayers III, who scored 19 and 13 points, respectively.

The Flashes used a 15-0 run in the first half to take charge, leading 21-5 at the end of the run. Their lead was 34-25 at halftime despite not shooting particularly well (9-for-27 from the field and 3-for-7 from foul line). They did go 4-for-10 on 3-pointers in the half.

Kent State shot much better in the second half and pulled away. The Flashes finished the game shooting 53.4% from the field ((31-for-58) from the field and 69.2% from the foul line (18-for-26).

“A lot of that was creating turnovers, they played some zone and we were able to get good looks,” Senderoff said. “That’s not always going to happen. What we need to make sure we continue to do is defend at a high level, which we did tonight.”

The Flashes scored 46 points in the paint to the Falcons’ 20 and outrebounded BG 42-23. They also came up with 10 steals, as they limited BG to 40.7% shooting from the field.

“That’s when we’re playing at our best – it’s when our defense creates offense,” Senderoff said. “Tonight we did a great job of that. That’s our formula for success – sharing the basketball, creating turnovers, protecting the paint. That’s what we do well.”

Kent State's Giovanni Santiago out with an injury

Kent State is preparing to play the rest of the season minus guard Giovanni Santiago, who left the Akron game in the first half with a hand injury. Senderoff said the redshirt junior is “more than likely is out for the season.”

Santiago is fifth on the team in points, and fourth in steals and 3-pointers.

“We have to make adjustments as a team and sort of pick up the slack for the things that he has done really well for us for a number of years,” the coach said.

Buffalo Bulls next for Kent State

The Flashes play at Buffalo at 6 p.m., Friday. It's the second meeting of the season between the two. The Flashes were 74-68 winners Jan. 27 over the Bulls (12-12, 6-5). Buffalo averages 80.2 points per game and are led by sophomore guard Curtis Jones.

“We obviously have to watch the film on what we did well and what we need to improve upon,” Senderoff said. “Sure, they’re going to do the same thing, but that’ll be good for us because every game here on out is a team we’ve already played. We’ll have to continue to get better at that.”

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Kent State men’s basketball defeats Bowling Green in MAC game