In a game that saw the Kent State men’s basketball team outrebound the Ohio Bobcats 46-28, it also saw the Flashes fall two points short of the victory 61-59 Friday.
The Flashes missed 11 key foul shots (14-25), proving costly in a game that was tight the entire way.
“You have to make free throws, and you have to take care of the basketball if you want to win close games,” coach Rob Senderoff said.
KSU turned the ball over 19 times and allowed 18 Ohio points off its turnovers.
The Flashes were able to show their physicality, grabbing 22 offensive rebounds to OU’s six and also outscored the Bobcats 32-18 in the paint.
Senior center Cli’Ron Hornbeak grabbed seven offensive boards and had 11 on the night – he also finished the night with a team-high 13 points and three blocks.
“He’s a good player and an upperclassman, so I hope tonight helps him,” Senderoff said.
Sophomore guard Cian Medley was coming off two career nights, scoring 15 and 22 in the last two games, respectively. In this game, his game-tying shot attempt in the final seconds came off the rim.
“There’s a lot of plays in the game, and that’s just one of them,” Senderoff said. “Everybody that was on the court had plays that we could have made to help us win, and it was just one of many.”
In the 83-64 win against Toledo, KSU had its best 3-point shooting night (12-19) of the season while also shooting under 20 attempts.
Against Ohio, Kent State again shot 19 threes, but only saw three of them go in.
“I’m focused on us taking the best shots we can and trying to find different ways to win games, and tonight we came up short,” Senderoff said. “We have to figure out a way to get better as we move forward in league play.”
Looking for a home conference win
The Flashes have lost their first three home games against the Mid-American Conference. They will look for their first win Tuesday against the Bowling Green Falcons at 7 p.m. at the M.A.C. Center.
Kent State is 12-7 and sixth place at 3-4 in the MAC standings.
Bowling Green is 7-12 on the season and is 2-5 against the conference, in tenth place.
KSU has had the Falcons number, winning the last 10 over BG – the most recent was a 73-60 win last year in the second round of the MAC tournament.
“We haven’t played great at home, so we need to come out with a great sense of urgency on Tuesday night,” Senderoff said. “We need to try to make sure we’re able to bounce back from this tough loss.
Andrew Gold is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].