The Kent State men’s basketball team had a nine-point halftime advantage against the Mid-American Conference No. 1 ranked team, but the team gave up the lead and fell 70-61 to the Miami RedHawks at the M.A.C. Center Saturday.

The Flashes were unable to add on to their halftime lead, as it ended up being their biggest lead of the game.

Just over five minutes into the second half, the RedHawks tied the game and were able to pull away from KSU, leading by as many as 12 in the final minutes.

“Everything that is in the formula of what we need to do to be successful, we did in the first half,” coach Rob Senderoff said. “Everything that a team that is not going to win, is what we did in the second half.”

The first 20 showed a physical Flashes team that attacked Miami’s big men.

“We played the way we needed to play,” Senderoff said. “We need to replicate the first half in terms of competitiveness and toughness — we got to the foul line and shot 14 free throws.”

KSU ended the game shooting 18 free throws with only four of those being in the second half.

“In the first half, we went to the foul line 14 times and they went five times — we were up nine,” Senderoff said. “At halftime, I told my team to keep getting the ball inside and keep putting pressure on the rim, and we shot 17 threes in the second half and shot four free throws.”

Kent State shot 4-29 (13.8%) from three point land tonight, a growing concern for coach Senderoff and the Flashes.

“Right now, we’re having a really difficult time being consistent as who we are as a team,” Senderoff said. “We don’t shoot threes well — we shot 29 out of 60 shots from three.”

On the season, KSU shoots the three at 27.1% while their opponents are 31.1% from beyond the arc. The Flashes are at the bottom in the MAC in three point percentage this season, while Miami shoots about 13% better — the best percentage in the MAC.

“It’s not this guy or that guy — it’s collective,” Senderoff said. “Some threes you should

take, like inside out threes or extra pass threes, but when we’re shooting half our shots from three and aren’t getting to the rim, it’s a recipe for what we saw.”

Sophomore guard Cian Medley led the scoring for the Flashes with 15, matching his career-best against Portland Dec. 6.

Miami moved to 5-0 against the MAC, knotted with Akron. Kent State fell to 2-3 against the conference and are tied for fifth place. The RedHawks are 13-4 overall and the Flashes are 11-6.

Looking for a road spark

KSU will head to Toledo to take on the 10-7 Rockets, who are 4-1 against the MAC, Tuesday.

Last year, Toledo was the No. 1 seed in the MAC Tournament and were defeated by the Flashes 67-59 in the first round.

“We need to get ourselves focused on what we need to do against another really good team,” Senderoff said.

Despite the recent struggles in their conference games, Senderoff and the Flashes will look to get back on track in the coming months.

“When you look at 2017, when we went to the NCAA tournament, at one point we were horrific and it was over,” Senderoff said. “I absolutely think we can fix this. I believe in the roster and these guys, but we all need to look ourselves in the mirror and fix it, or this is going to continue.”

Andrew Gold is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].