Kent State University
Loyola (Md.)
Kent State Travels to Loyola (Md.) for CIT Second Round Game on Sunday
3/22/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Kent State game notes (.pdf)
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The Game
Kent State continues its postseason run with a trip to Baltimore to play Loyola University (Md.) on Sunday, March 24 in round two of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
Senior Randal Holt's layup with 3.4 seconds to play gave the Golden Flashes a 73-71 first-round victory over Fairfield on Wednesday at the M.A.C. Center, becoming just the sixth team in program history to capture a postseason win. Past Kent State teams scored victories in the 2001 and 2002 NCAA Tournaments and the 2000, 2010 and 2011 National Invitation Tournaments.
Loyola (22-11) was a 70-63 home winner over Boston University in a first round game on Tuesday. The Greyhounds were led by guards Robert Olson and Dylon Cormier in that win.
This is the second straight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference foe for Kent State. Loyola defeated Fairfield in both of their meetings – 63-58 in overtime in Baltimore and 65-60 in Bridgeport, Conn. The only other common opponent this season was Bucknell. The Golden Flashes lost, 76-60, at Bucknell while Loyola lost at home to the Bison, 66-46.
Cormier, a 6-foot-2 junior, is Loyola's top scorer at 16.5 per game while 6-foot-7 senior Erik Etherly averages 15.6 points and a team-best 6.3 rebounds. Olson, a 6-5 guard, is averaging 12.8 per game with a team-leading 71 threes on 212 attempts (33.5 percent).
Kent State is 2-0 all time against Loyola, sweeping the Greyhounds in a home-and-home series in 1997 and 1998.
TV / Radio
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Next Up For Kent State
The CIT uses the old NIT model in which matchups in future rounds are determined by the results of the previous round. The second round takes place on March 26-27.
Quick Flashes
• Kent State's two seniors, Chris Evans (16.3 ppg) & Randal Holt (14.7 ppg), combine to average 31.0 points per game, which accounts for 43.5 percent of the Golden Flashes' scoring. Both players have scored more than 500 points this season, which is just the 3rd time in KSU history that multiple players have done so.
• KSU's all-time leader in three-pointers, Holt made three more against Fairfield to set the school's single-season mark, which was previously held by D.J. Bosse during the 1996-97 season.
• Kent State holds a +2.9 advantage in points off turnovers per game so far this season. The Flashes are averaging 16.4 points while allowing 13.5 points per game.
• The Flashes have received a boost from their bench this season. They average 22.2 bench points in wins this season, but are only getting 16.0 points per game from the bench in losses.
