Kent State Ends Season With 80-74 Loss at Oakland

Golden Flashes can not hang onto 13-point half time lead

ROCHESTER, Mich - Kent State held a 13-point advantage at halftime, but was unable to hold on in an 80-74 loss at Oakland in the opening round of the Inaugural CollegeInsider.com Post-Season Tournament. The loss ends the Golden Flashes season, leaving them with a 19-15 overall record.

Five players scored in double figures for Kent State, including senior guard Al Fisher (Pennsauken, N.J./Redlands CC (Okla.)), who became the 25th player in school history to score 1,000 points. Fisher who ended the night with 13 points closed out his two-year KSU career with 1,002 points. Fellow senior, forward Julian Sullinger (Columbus, Ohio/Fork Union (Va.) Military Acad.) added 12 points on 5-7 shooting.

Kent State closed out the first half with an 18-3 run over the final four minutes. With Sullinger starting out 5-5 from the field, the Golden Flashes led most of the half until Oakland (23-12) pushed ahead 21-20 at the six minute mark, the Golden Grizzlies still led 24-22 two minutes later, but the Golden Flashes defense forced three key steals to help spark the spurt that gave them a 40-27 halftime lead.

Entering the game ranked fourth in the country with 127 three-pointers made this season, KSU held Oakland's Erik Kangas to just one three pointer and five first half points. The 18.7 points per game scorer got hot in the second half knocking down four threes in the first nine minutes to fueled a 23-7 run that gave the Golden Grizzlies a 52-50 lead they would not relinquish.

"Kangas got hot from three and we missed some lay-ups and free throws on the other end that really hurt us," said Head Coach Geno Ford, "I told our guys before the game that they were the best and most dynamic offensive team we have faced this year, and when you have a team as good as they are shooting the ball you can't give them opportunities to hurt you"

The Golden Flashes would keep it close and were down by just three (62-59) with 6:30 left after Fisher hit the second of two free throws in a tightly whistled second half. On the other end of the court Oakland answered with one of its 10 three-pointers to begin a 9-0 run over the next three minutes that put the game away.

Juniors Tyree Evans (Richmond Va./Motlow C.C. (Tenn.)) and Anthony Simpson (Rockford, Ill. / Highland C.C. (Ill.)) also added 12 points each. Evans hit three, three-pointers while Simpson led the team with eight rebounds, but struggled making just 2-8 from the foul line. Junior Chris Singletary (Chicago, Ill./Florida Prep.) rounded out the double digit scorers with 10 points.

Playing in his Mid-American Conference record 135th and final game, senior Jordan Mincy (Memphis, Tenn. / Ridgeway) handed out six assists to finish seventh on the KSU all-time list with 347.

As a team Kent State shot 55 percent in the first half, but finished just 46 percent for the game after making just 10-28 in the second half. The Golden Flashes also shot 13-25 (52 percent) from the foul line, including 10-20 after the break. Oakland shot 44 percent for the game. The Golden Grizzlies made 3-14 from three in the first half before burring 7-13 in the second.

Kent State Ends Season With 80-74 Loss at Oakland

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