Audio |
Recap |
Box Score |
Preview
February 16, 2011
Kent State Falls To Miami 86-80 in Overtime
Box Score (.PDF)
Golden Flashes slip to second in the MAC East
OXFORD, Ohio – Kent State had its six game winning streak snapped with an 86-80 overtime loss at Miami on Wednesday night in Millett Hall. With the loss, the Golden Flashes (17-8; 8-3) fall to half a game behind the RedHawks (14-12; 9-3) in the Mid-American Conference East Division race.
Senior guard Rodriquez Sherman (Indianapolis, Ind./Ben Davis) hit a clutch three-pointer to force overtime and led Kent State with 25 points for the second straight game while junior Carlton Guyton (Chicago, Ill. / Mineral Area C.C. [Mo.]) poured in a career high 24 and shot 4-7 from three.
Sherman went off on his own 9-0 run early to help Kent State take control in the first half. Behind the play of the senior guard the Golden Flashes built up a 13-point, 27-14 advantage at the 7:19 mark. The lead was still at 13 at the six-minute mark following another basket from Sherman who totaled 13 first half points. The RedHawks would counter with Nick Winbush who scored two straight old-fashioned three-point plays as part of a 8-0 spurt that closed to the gap (31-26) to five with three minutes remaining before the break. Sophomore Randal Holt (Cleveland, Ohio/Bedford) then scored two of his nine points on an out of bounds play to give Kent State a 33-26 lead at halftime.
Kent State extended its advantage in the first six minutes of the second half taking a 13-point (46-33) lead after a Guyton jumper with 14 minutes remaining. Miami responded with a 14-0 run over the next five minutes and took its first lead of the game, 47-46 on a fast break lay-up from Orlando Williams, who scored eight points during the run. Junior Michael Porrini (Massillon, Ohio/Gulf Coast C.C. [Fla.]) finally ended the drought and put Kent State back on top with a three from the right wing on the next possession setting up a back-and-forth battle the last nine minutes of regulation.
With the RedHawks holding a three-point lead at the 3:38 mark, Holt knocked down his only three of the game to tie the score at 61-61. The score stayed there until just over a minute left when Porrini pulled in a long rebound and tossed the ball ahead to Sherman for a contest fast break lay-up that gave the Golden Flashes a 63-61 cushion. Following a Miami time-out, Williams delivered once again hitting a go ahead three-pointer from the left corner with 35 seconds left. Sherman turned the ball over on Kent State's possession, but after a pair of RedHawk free throws atoned for his mistake with a three-pointer that hit the rim and bounced off two feet in the air before falling thru to tie the game once more with eight seconds left and force the extra session.
In overtime the teams traded the lead the first two minutes before Porrini picked up his fifth foul on a drive to the basket. Winbush followed with another three-point play to put the RedHawks in front to stay as Miami scored on its final nine possessions of the period.
"The made enough big plays down the stretch that they deserved to win," said Head Coach Geno Ford. "It was a battle of two evenly matched teams, but Williams and Windbush each hit clutch shots when they needed them."
Kent State (43.5 percent) shot better than Miami (40.0 percent), but the RedHawks held a huge advantage on the foul line shooting 29-35 (82.9 percent) compared to 10-13 (76.9 percent) for the Golden Flashes. Windbush led all scorers with 16 points and added 12 rebounds while Julian Mavunga totaled 17 points and had 17 rebounds.
Junior Justin Manns (Winston-Salem, N.C./Owens C.C. [Ohio]) led Kent State with 10 rebounds.
Kent State now travels to Drexel on Friday, Feb. 18 to face Drexel as part of the ESPN Sears BracketBusters event.
NOTES:
• Kent State had won the last 21 games when scoring 70 + points
• The loss also ended Kent State's string of 13 consecutive wins when scoring 30+ points in the paint (36 tonight)
• Kent State is 1-1 in overtime this season
