Kent State University
12-12, 6-5MAC
Eastern Michigan University
14-10, 5-6MAC
Men's Basketball Drops First MAC Home Game, 71-67 to Eastern Michigan
2/6/2018 10:11:00 PM | Men's Basketball
KENT, Ohio – Eastern Michigan handed Kent State its first home loss in Mid-American Conference play, pulling away for a 71-67 victory over the Golden Flashes on Tuesday at the M.A.C. Center.
Jaylin Walker drilled a pair of late threes from beyond NBA range to give the Flashes some hope in the final minute, but the Eagles secured the victory by beating KSU's full-court pressure for bust-out dunks by James Thompson and Elijah Minnie. Paul Jackson all but put the game out of reach with two free throws with 11 seconds remaining.
Walker finished with a game-high 24 points and a team-best five assists. Danny Pippen did his best to keep the game close in the second half, scoring all of his 13 points after the break in a double-double that included 10 rebounds. Center Adonis De La Rosa added 13 rebounds to help Kent State win the battle of the boards 37-31, and B.J. Duling chipped in 11 points off the bench on 4-of-5 shooting.
Eastern Michigan finished with five players in double figures in Jackson (17 points), Minnie (15), Thompson (12), Ty Groce (11) and Jordan Nobles (10). The turning point in the game arrived with 2:55 to play after Eastern Michigan came up with the basketball in a mad scramble near midcourt. Nobles ended up with the ball in the left corner and drilled a three pointer that allowed the Eagles to enjoy a two-possession lead.
"The 50-50 ball at the end defines how the game was," said Kent State coach Rob Senderoff. "The ball bounces on the floor three or four times, and they come out and bang a big three… There were six or seven other 50-50 balls that we didn't get to."
Five first-half three pointers kept Kent State within striking distance at the break, trailing 33-28 despite 38-percent shooting from the field. KSU finished the night 9-of-24 from three-point range. While Eastern Michigan shot just 25 percent from beyond the arc (4-for-16), they outscored the Flashes 22-11 off of turnovers, 13-9 on second-chance points and 14-0 on the fast break.
Kent State plays at Ball State Friday at 9 p.m.
"We have a tough stretch coming up ahead of us and we need everybody to play a little bit better and compete a little harder," said Senderoff.
