Kent State University
15-13, 6-9MAC
Bowling Green State University
12-16, 6-9MAC
Shooting woes haunt Flashes in 73-66 loss to Falcons
2/26/2014 9:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Bowling Green made the most of its size in handing Kent State a 73-66 loss on Wednesday night at the Stroh Center.
Instead of settling for long-range jumpers, Kent State attacked the rim with purpose, attempting 48 of their 63 shots from inside the three-point arc. The Golden Flashes converted just 34.9 percent of those shots, however, and watched nine of them get swatted away by Falcons defenders.
Bowling Green also outrebounded Kent State by a 44-31 margin while improving its record to 12-16 overall and 6-9 in MAC play.
"We have to do a better job of finishing at the basket," said Kent State head coach Rob Senderoff, whose Flashes fell to 15-13 overall and 6-9 in the MAC. "We wanted to attack the rim hard and get to the foul line. We were able to do that. But when we didn't get the foul, we had a hard time getting shots to fall over their bigs."
Bowling Green took a 31-26 advantage into halftime and extended its lead to 12 points by the 13:05 mark of the second half. But Devareaux Manley hit a few threes and K.K. Simmons brought some life off of the bench to help Kent State pull to within three points at 53-50 following two Kellon Thomas free throws with 5:32 remaining.
But on the next three possessions, Kris Brewer, Derek Jackson and Darren Goodson all missed shots in the lane and Bowling Green turned those misses into easy baskets on the other end during a 7-0 run that put the Falcons in control.
A turnover leading to a breakaway dunk by J.D. Tisdale put the Falcons back up by 12 points at 62-54 with 2:04 to play, but again the Flashes battled back. They pulled as close as three points one last time on a layup by Jackson with 30 seconds to play before Bowling Green finally sealed the win at the foul line.
Jehvon Clarke drilled four free throws in the closing seconds to cap a game-high 21 points. The Falcons point guard also finished with five assists and eight rebounds. Richaun Holmes and Spencer Parker added 14 and 12 points, respectively, for the Falcons. A Bowling Green team that had found little production from the bench also added eight points and two three-pointers from Damarkeo Lyshe, who began the night averaging 1.3 points per game on 28-percent shooting.
Manley scored 16 points and hit 4-of-9 from three-point range on his way to leading Kent State with 16 points. Kris Brewer chipped in 14 while Mark Henniger added 10 points and matched Jackson and Goodson for a team-best six rebounds.
The Golden Flashes will travel to Ohio University on Saturday before returning to Kent for their final home game on March 4 vs. Miami University.
