Kent State Escapes Eastern Michigan With 62-58 Win
2/8/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Box Score (.PDF)
Golden Flashes win fifth straight behind late game heroics from Holt, Jackson & Evans
YPSILANTI, Mich. – Kent State (17-6; 7-3 MAC) used big plays by three different players in the final 30 seconds to earn a 62-58 win in a tightly contest Mid-American Conference game at West Division leader Eastern Michigan (10-14; 5-5 MAC) on Wednesday night.
Junior guard Randal Holt (Cleveland, Ohio) had just one three in the game, but hit it when it mattered most. With the Golden Flashes trailing 58-56, Holt knocked down a deep go-ahead three with 23 seconds remaining from the left wing for a 59-58 Kent State lead. It was then junior forward Patrick Jackson's (Brooklyn, N.Y.) to step up with a big play. The Eagles' leading scorer, Darrell Lampley, who led all scorers with a game high 18 points, drove through the lane with less than 10 seconds on the clock only to have Jackson swoop in for a game saving blocked shot.
With only four seconds remaining, Eastern Michigan was then forced to foul. Junior forward Chris Evans (Chesapeake, Va.) finished off the Golden Flashes fifth straight victory by hitting 3-4 at the line in the time remaining.
Playing against a stingy zone defense by the Eagles, the Golden Flashes trailed by as many as nine in the first half before closing the period with an 11-5 spurt for a 32-31 halftime advantage. The second half was just as tightly contested with neither team leading by more than six points.
Senior forward Justin Greene (Brooklyn, N.Y.) kept Kent State in the game early on scoring 11 of his team high 17 points in the first half. Greene ended the game hitting on 8-10 from the field while grabbing six rebounds and recording three steals. Senior guard Carlton Guyton (Chicago, Ill.), who hit two of his three shots from beyond the arc in final minutes of the first half, had 11 points, while Evans finished with 10.
Kent State returns home to kick off a three game home stand starting on Saturday against Ball State. Game time is 11:00 am and will be broadcast live on ESPNU. Follow the action on the radio at WNIR 100.1 FM or listen online at www.kentstatesports.com.
Kent State - Eastern Michigan Post Game Notes
Team Notes:
• 29th consecutive win over a MAC West Division opponent for Kent State
• The Golden Flashes committed a season low six turnovers
Individual Notes:
• Justin Greene has reached double digits in 11 straight games. Greene now has 75 career double digit games in his career
• Greene became just the eighth player in school history to reach 1,400 career points. With 17 points tonight he now has 1,408.
• Kent State had a +11 in points scored (17-6) during the nine minutes when Patrick Jackson was on the court tonight
Kent State - Eastern Michigan Post Game Quotes
Kent State Junior Guard Randal Holt
On his shot to give KSU the lead:
"At night, I dream about hitting shots like that. I dream about hitting game winners. I guess I can kind of say I live for the moment. I just shot it with confidence and knew I was going to make it. No matter if I've missed every shot in the game, I knew I was going to make that one. We made some good hustle plays down the stretch, coming up with offensive rebounds, allowing us to have extra possessions that gave me the chance."
On keeping the winning streak going:
"That win was very important for our season. We want to sweep the West to give us a chance to win the regular season. If we would've lost tonight, it would've been devastating for our season. It's just great that we won the game and found a way to get it done."
On Patrick Jackson's defensive play at the end of the game:
"That's Pat Jackson for you. He's big, strong & physical. He's going to make the defensive plays down the stretch, and that is exactly what we needed tonight."
Kent State junior forward Patrick Jackson:
On the defensive stop at the end of the game:
"Coming out of the out of bounds play, Mike Porrini got screened, and he fell off balance. I knew I had the helped-side defense since he already beat it. I knew that he (Lampley) wasn't passing the ball, he was shooting it regardless. So, that's why I just stayed with him. I just stayed there and blocked the shot."
Head Coach Rob Senderoff
On tonight's game:
"They probably outplayed us for 39 minutes 36 seconds but, you know what, the game is 40 minutes. We knew that we would need to defend in the last eight seconds of the shot clock, and we didn't do a great job there. It's not easy to do. They are a team that when they play from ahead, it's even harder to play against because you know it's limited possessions. You know you have to get stops, you have to get rebounds. Any time you don't, you're going to be guarding for a minute or a minute and a half if you don't get a rebound or a stop. They're not an easy team to play against and Rob Murphy is doing an unbelievable job. At the end, we made two more plays than they did."
On the final defensive stand:
"We actually got beat a little bit, the kid (Lampley) is small and quick, and he's good. We had subbed Pat in because we wanted to switch if they ball screened. Pat was in the lane and came out and made a great play."
On Randal Holt's shot:
"That's Randal. He is the one who wants to shoot it, and in a lot of respects, he's the one we want to shoot it. There's a lot of guys I don't mind shooting it., but I know that Randal wants to shoot that shot. It didn't matter that he was 2-6 going into it and 0-4 from three. The second it left it hands, I don't think there was ever a doubt in his mind it was going in. You could see his reaction; he knew it was going in."
On when he knew it was good:
"When it left it hands, I thought it was good. Every time it leaves Randal's hands, I think it's good because he's a good shooter. He's a confident player. He just thinks he's going to make every one."
On Pat Jackson's defense:
That's now twice that he's made huge defensive plays at the end of games. Against Miami, he causes them to turn it over and then here tonight. Pat as sacrificed, and this is twice where he's come up huge for us on the defensive end when we've needed him to. That's a testament to him."
On what the Flashes have to do:
"If we continue to win, we'll be okay. If we don't, then we won't be… I just know that if we keep winning, at the end, we'll be fine. Everybody has to play each other again and everybody is playing well on our side. Everybody is winning games. We just have to find a way to keep winning games."
