Kent State University
9-419-8; MAC
Miami
5-89-17; MAC
Late Rally By Kent State Not Enough In 62-60 Loss At Miami
2/21/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Golden Flashes overcome nine-point margin in the final five minutes
Box Score (.PDF)
OXFORD, Ohio – Kent State (19-8; 9-4 MAC) put together another late rally but still came up short at Miami (9-17; 5-8 MAC) on Tuesday night in Millett Hall. The loss ended a seven game Mid-American Conference winning streak for the Golden Flashes which tied the game twice in the final 1:20 after trailing by nine with five minutes remaining.
Senior forward Justin Greene (Brooklyn, N.Y.) scored both tying baskets for Kent State, the second coming with 27 seconds left. After Greene's basket, Miami's Julian Mavunga was fouled in the paint then hit two game winning free throws with 3.8 seconds left. A desperation three by Kent State from half court was then off the mark at the buzzer.
Junior guard Randal Holt (Cleveland, Ohio) led the Golden Flashes scoring 12 of his 15 points in the second half as the team shot 61.5 percent after the break. Senior guard Carlton Guyton (Chicago, Ill.) added 13 points and Greene had 11.
Down by as many as 12 in the second half, Kent State trailed 56-47 with five minutes remaining. Junior Chris Evans (Chesapeake, Va.) then kicked started an 11-2 run with an old fashioned three-point play which eventually tied the game as the Golden Flashes finished the contest hitting their final five shots from the floor.
Kent State travels to Bowling Green on Saturday for a 6:00 pm game that can been seen on SportsTime Ohio. Follow the action on the radio at WNIR 100.1 FM or listen online at www.kentstatesports.com.
Kent State - Miami Post Game Notes
Team Notes:
• Kent State held a 33-25 edge in rebounding
• Kent State shot 50 percent from the field for the game
Individual Notes:
• Justin Greene moved into third place on Kent State's all-time rebounding list. Greene now has 763 career rebounds passing Terry Wearsch (1983-87). He needs only five rebounds to catch Bradley Robinson (1973-76) for second all-time.
• Randal Holt had three, three-pointers in the game moving him into 10th place on the Kent State career list with 145
• Chris Evans had a career high five blocked shots. He is the first Kent State player since Anthony Simpson (Western Carolina; Dec. 6, 2008) to have at lest five blocks in a game
Kent State - Miami Post Game Quotes
Head Coach Rob Senderoff
On the foul at the end of the game:
"We should've fouled him on the floor. That's it. We had five fouls. We've done these situations before, and we messed up. That's on me. I'm the head coach. I have got to get these guys better with that."
On whether teams are underestimating Miami:
Nobody is underestimating them. Everybody knows that Charlie Coles is the best coach in this league. Nobody's underestimating them. I would think not. If you are, you'd be foolish. If our kids underestimated them, that's on us. I don't think we did though. I think we didn't play very well, and they played pretty well, and, at the end of the day, they made a couple more plays than we made. That's the bottom line... [We] turned it over too many times, which is uncharacteristic for our team.
On the game:
"We shot 61 percent in the second half and 50 percent from the game. We were 6-for-12 from the free-throw line. We missed too many free throws. I don't know that there was an adjustment except that we had given up a three at the end of the half, which was a mistake on our part again. We've got to get better at this time of year if we expect to win games, but, at the same time, I need to give Miami and Coach Coles a lot of credit. Right now, they're not having a great year, but that team doesn't quit. I mean that team fights and plays hard and scraps and claws. They've been in every game. There hasn't been a game this year where I don't think they've been in... They're not too far from being 8-5 or 9-4."
