Kent State University
16-7, 7-3MAC
Miami University (OH)
8-15, 3-7MAC
Ortiz's dunk gives shorthanded Flashes 61-60 win over Miami
2/7/2015 9:57:00 PM | Men's Basketball
KENT, Ohio – Chris Ortiz threw down a two-handed dunk with 42 seconds to play and Kent State held Miami University scoreless the rest of the way as the Golden Flashes claimed a 61-60 thriller Saturday night at the M.A.C. Center to stay at the top of the Mid-American Conference standings.
Devareaux Manley led the Flashes with 20 points, including a key three-pointer with 1:34 to play to help Kent State battle back from an eight-point deficit in the closing minutes. Derek Jackson added 11 points and found Ortiz open in the lane with a pinpoint pass to set up the game-deciding dunk.
Manley and Jackson were forced to play 39 minutes each as the only available guards with Kris Brewer joined a growing list of Flashes not in uniform. Ortiz finished with 16 points in 34 minutes, helping to pick up the inside slack as Jimmy Hall missed his second game due to illness.
Marquiez Lawrence contributed his first 10-rebound game of his Kent State career while playing 27 minutes of his first starting assignment. Six of his rebounds came on the offensive end as Lawrence, who also scored six points, kept some key possessions alive in the second half.
"The way these guys competed down the stretch, how can you not be proud of what they did," said Kent State head coach Rob Senderoff, whose Flashes played with only eight scholarship players available. "You look at the bench and there were more guys in street clothes than guys in uniform. We only had two perimeter players on the roster. And these guys were down six points with two minutes to go. To find a way to win, I couldn't be more proud. The togetherness, the way they competed. As a coach, this is the best win of the four years here just because of the circumstances."
Kent State now sits in a first-place tie with arch-rival Akron in the East Division with matching 16-7 overall and 7-3 conference records.
Saturday served as a confidence boost to a group that learned it can win with key players unavailable.
"We played our normal game plan as if we had everyone," said Ortiz, who scored 16 points on 8-of-12 shooting. "It was just other people taking more shots."
A hot start by Manley and Jackson, who scored 11 points each in the first half while hitting a combined 6-of-11 from three-point range, helped Kent State go into the break tied at 37-37.
Led by point guard Eric Washington, who finished with team highs of 17 points and eight rebounds, Miami grabbed control in the second half, leading by as many as eight points with 6:28 to play. But after the RedHawks built their biggest lead at 56-48 on a pair of free throws by Geovonie McKnight, they were outscored 13-4 the rest of the way.
After the Ortiz dunk put Kent State on top for good, the Flashes found a string of stops in the closing seconds, including strips by both Lawrence and Gary Akbar at the basket. Washington missed a 35-foot prayer with the shot clock sounding and just seven seconds to play. Ortiz was fouled after rebounding the miss. While he couldn't make the front end of the the one-and-one, Miami had one last chance but Willie Moore's shot missed at the buzzer.
Kent State out-shot Miami 46 percent (23-for-50) to 45.1 percent (23-for-51). The Flashes also made 7-of-22 from three-point range compared to Miami's 1-for-9.
The RedHawks (8-15, 3-7) won the rebounding battle 32-26, but managed just nine second-chance points on 13 offensive rebounds.
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
