Kent State University
8-2
Bucknell University
4-4
Winning streak ends in offensive struggle vs. Bucknell
12/4/2013 9:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball
KENT, Ohio – Kent State's six-game winning streak came to an end in a 66-59 loss against Bucknell as the Golden Flashes closed a seven-game homestand on Wednesday night at the M.A.C. Center.
The Bison seized control with a 15-0 run in the second half after they had watched the Golden Flashes take a seven-point lead with 15:16 to play.
An individual 6-0 run by Darren Goodson helped Kent State battle back into a tie late, but too many empty possessions at the end allowed Bucknell to pull away in the final two minutes. Bucknell scored 13 of the game's final 19 points to secure the win.
"We made some mistakes, settling for too many shots early in the shot clock and some other things," said Kent State head coach Rob Senderoff, whose team dropped to 8-2 on the season. "Now we have a long break after finals to fix some of those mistakes."
Goodson led the Flashes with 18 points on 7-for-17 shooting from the field and 3-of-8 from three-point range. Kris Brewer added 11 points, but the Flashes struggled as a team all night on the offensive end, making just 37 percent of their field goals (23-for-62) and 25-percent of their threes (7-for-28).
After going to the foul line 39 times in Sunday's win over Kennesaw State, Kent State attempted just eight free throws on Wednesday.
Brian Fitzpatrick scored 16 points to lead Bucknell. Ben Brackney and Cameron Ayers added 12 points each for the Bison.
Even with Brackney hitting all of his four three-pointers in the first half, Kent State took a 31-29 lead into the break. Ayers drilled two key threes in the second half to answer the run that gave Kent State its seven-point lead. As a team, the Bison connected on 9-of-20 from beyond the arc.
Bucknell (4-4) also out-rebounded Kent State (39-35) despite Mark Henniger's career-high 12 rebounds. The inside trio of Henniger, Khaliq Spicer and Melvin Tabb combined for just one basket on the night.
"We've had some frontcourt guys play very well during the winning streak, but tonight that didn't happen," said Senderoff. "We had a lot of guys at every position not play well, and all on the same night. Give Bucknell a lot of credit for making us not play well. They are a good team. But some of it is on us, too. We got frustrated … And I think we are a little bit tired. I'm not happy with the way we are going into this break, but in a lot of ways the break is important to us to get reenergized and refocused."
The Flashes are off until Dec. 21 when they go on the road to face the College of Charleston. They return home for a regional rivalry game against Cleveland State on Dec. 28.
