In the Kent State Men’s Basketball team’s final game against a non-conference opponent, it came out with a clutch 76-75 win over the Sun Belt Conference-leading Arkansas State Red Wolves at home.

“Really good win for us, it was great to play as hard as we did and as well as we did at home,” coach Rob Senderoff said. “We needed to do that against a really good team.”

KSU won with clutch free throw shooting and was 25-28 on the night. It was highlighted by sophomore guard Jamal Sumlin (7-7), senior guard Marquis Barnett (7-7) and senior guard Jalen Sullinger (5-5).

With 15 seconds on the clock and Kent State down by one, Sumlin knocked down two from the stripe to give the Flashes the lead and ultimately the win.

“We practice on free throws every day so in the clutch moments,” Sumlin said, “I had to step up for my team to make the free throws and win the game.”

Junior forward Delrecco Gillespie played 37 minutes and made all five of his field goals while also pulling down nine rebounds.

Gillespie also defended both the Red Wolves’ two game-winning shot attempts in the final seconds before the ball came off the rim to Sumlin as time expired.

“Jamal hit some big free throws to give us the lead, and ‘Recco came up with a huge play at the end to seal the win, and he did a great job all afternoon,” Senderoff said.

Gillespie has been a beast on the boards, coming off an 18-rebound game against Eastern Michigan and having eight or more boards in seven of his last nine.

“They were sending their guns to the glass, so we had to really lock in on getting rebounds and getting out,” Gillespie said.

Without its leader in scoring — senior forward VonCameron Davis — Sullinger stepped up and led the team with 27 points on the night; his third 25-plus game of the season.

“He was awesome tonight, and he’s been great in practice,” Senderoff said. “His maturity and his leadership have been incredible in particular over the last month and a half. It’s incredible how well he’s practiced.”

While this game wasn’t a Mid-American Conference matchup, Arkansas State leads the Sun Belt Conference with an 18-7 record and a 9-3 conference record, so the win was a good one for the Flashes.

“To be able to win this game is really good for our guys’ confidence that we can beat a really good team,” Senderoff said. “We made plays that you need to make to win these games.”

The Flashes have eight more conference games to end their regular season, so they know this is a good confidence booster.

“It was a big time win,” Gillespie said. “They’re a great team and they play hard; it was a great test and we came out with the win.”

Kent State, while remaining 5-5 against the MAC, moved to 15-8 on the season — in fifth place in the conference standings.

“I’m proud of these guys — we hadn’t won a lot of close games in particular at home,” Senderoff said. “This is really good for these guys’ confidence, we’ve been practicing three minute games and late game execution every day, so to see these guys execute was important.”

A big one against the Chippewas

Four teams; Ball State, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan and KSU’s opponent Tuesday — the Central Michigan Chippewas — each sit one game behind the Flashes for fifth place in the MAC standings.

The top eight teams get nods to the MAC tournament in Cleveland, so KSU knows how much this last month of the season will be.

“We still haven’t positioned ourselves yet to be in the MAC tournament. We have eight conference games left, and there are a lot of teams fighting to get in the tournament,” Senderoff said.

CMU is 11-12 on the season and will look to tie the Flashes with a win Tuesday at the M.A.C. Center. The game is at 7:00 p.m.

“We have to stay focused on Tuesday against Central Michigan, which is a very important game for us,” Senderoff said. “It’s a really important game for the standings in the conference, and we have to come with a tremendous mindset and focus.”

Going into a game with many implications, the Flashes look to their win over Arkansas State for confidence.

“It shows what we can do in big games if we’re all on the same page,” Sumlin said.

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