Kent State University
16-16, 9-9MAC
Northern Illinois University
13-19, 6-12MAC
Zabo Buzzer-Beater Sends Flashes Marching Back to Cleveland
3/5/2018 10:23:00 PM | Men's Basketball
KENT, Ohio - Kent State senior Kevin Zabo went the length of the M.A.C. Center court in six seconds and banked in a buzzer-beating layup to give the Golden Flashes a 61-59 victory over Northern Illinois Monday night in the opening round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament. With the victory, Kent State (16-16) advances to Thursday's quarterfinal against No. 4 seed Ball State.
"The way that we won it is a testament to everyone in the locker room for competing and finding a way," Head Coach Rob Senderoff said.
The Huskies (13-19) had an opportunity to go ahead with 7.4 seconds left, but a Eugene German free throw attempt rolled off the rim. Junior Adonis De La Rosa grabbed the rebound and dished off to Zabo, who weaved his way through three NIU defenders.
"I'm really happy for him that he had this moment," Senderoff said of Zabo's game-winner. "He had worked incredibly hard all year long. He deserved to make a play like this."
Prior to German, the Huskies had another key missed free throw late in the game that Kent State capitalized on. With a chance for NIU to go up by five on his second shot, Dante Thorpe's miss from the line with 2:27 left led to a pivotal three-pointer by junior Jalen Avery to cut the lead to 56-55.
"Kevin was getting to the basket a lot and we knew it would get to a point where the defense would suck in," Avery said of the play. "He came off the screen, they sucked in and I just shot it."
Avery also made a pair of clutch free throws on a 1-and-1 to give the Flashes a 57-56 lead with 1:39 to play. The Huskies answered right back with a jumper from Levi Bradley, but Zabo responded with a layup at 1:09 to give Kent State another one-point lead (59-58).
"All we were trying to do was get to Cleveland," Zabo said. "Close games have been the theme all year. We were down six at one point, but we kept telling ourselves 'we've been here before.'"
The "best overall defensive effort of the season," according to Senderoff was aided by six blocked shots from sophomore Danny Pippen. Six of Pippen's eight rebounds came on the defensive end as Northern Illinois was held to 35 percent shooting.
De La Rosa was limited to just 17 minutes due to foul trouble, but totaled 10 points and eight rebounds. Zabo led the scoring effort with 19 points and added four assists. Avery tallied 13 points and four assists.
To repeat as MAC tournament champions, Kent State will need three wins in three days at Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena, beginning Thursday at 2:30 p.m., against Ball State.
