Kent State University
Youngstown State University
Men's Basketball Hosts YSU in NEO Doubleheader Benefitting Coaches vs. Cancer® to Begin 100th Season
11/12/2015 3:12:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The 100th season of Kent State men's basketball tips off at 7 p.m. Saturday night against Youngstown State. The contest is par of the inaugural Northeast Ohio Doubleheader Benefitting Coaches vs. Cancer®. The second game of the doubleheader between Akron and Cleveland State will begin approximately 30 minutes following the conclusion of the first game. For each ticket purchased, $5 will be donated to the American Cancer Society to help support cancer patients and their families.
Head coach Rob Senderoff enters his fifth season at the helm with high expectations after capturing a share of the Mid-American Conference regular season championship, the sixth in program history, a year ago. Following a disappointing result at the conference tournament, Senderoff led the Golden Flashes to the quarterfinals of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) to finish with a 23-12 record.
All four letterwinners from a season ago are in the frontcourt. Redshirt junior Jimmy Hall looks to build off an outstanding debut season with the Flashes after leading the team in both scoring (15.5 ppg) and rebounding (7.7 rpg) en route to All-MAC First Team honors. Seniors Chris Ortiz and Khaliq Spicer join Hall on the starting frontline to give the Flashes their top three rebounders back from last year. Sophomore Raasean Davis has transformed his body during the off-season after a strong finish to his freshman campaign and redshirt junior Marvin Jones is ready to contribute after sitting out a year ago.
While the backcourt will feature several new faces, it does not lack experience at the Division I level. Redshirt senior Xavier Pollard played three seasons at Maine and earned America East Third Team honors after leading the Black Bears in scoring at 14.7 points per game in 2013-14. Redshirt junior Deon Edwin appeared in 30 games for a Southern Mississippi team that reached the quarterfinals of the NIT. The Flashes also added graduate transfer Galal Cancer, who averaged 9.6 points per game while shooting 38-percent from the three-point line at Cornell last season.
