The Kent State men’s basketball team advanced to the Mid-American Conference Tournament semifinals with its win over the Western Michigan Broncos (12-20, 9-9) Thursday.

The win also secured a 2-1 season series win against the Broncos.

“It’s great to get a win up here again. It’s always awesome to be up in Cleveland,” coach Rob Senderoff said. “I’m proud of our guys for getting a win here. It’s always hard to win these games in the conference tournament. It takes a 40-minute effort. When we needed to get a few stops, we did, and we get to play again, and it’s an awesome feeling to get to play another game together.”

Kent State came out flat in the first few minutes, missing all three of its shots and turning the ball over, but quickly found its stride, scoring 12 consecutive points to take an early 12-4 lead. 

After the two teams exchanged 4-0 runs, the Flashes still found themselves up eight, but the lead was erased thanks to eight straight Western Michigan points.

Each team knocked down a three, and with just under 10 minutes remaining in the first half, Kent State took over. 

The Flashes went on a 22-3 run to go up by 19 points, eventually taking a 43-25 lead into halftime. 

Senior guard Marquis Barnett poured in 18 points in the first half, going 7-8 from the field including 4-5 from beyond the arc.

“(I knew I was on) before the game started. I do a lot of mental preparation before the game starts, so I think every shot is going in,” Barnett said.

Though Barnett would not score in the second half, Barnett’s 18 points are a season high in one half.

“It’s win or go home right now. I’m a senior, so I don’t have a next year,” Barnett said. “All the seniors, we have a completely different mindset. Kent State’s a March team, so we have to keep that rolling.”

Senior guard Jalen Sullinger started the game with two missed three-pointers, but he found his groove inside the arc, scoring eight first-half points on 4-5 shooting on two-point shots.

Kent State’s dominance would not continue in the second half, as Western Michigan scored the half’s first seven points. 

The Broncos continued to draw closer and cut the lead down to eight with 16 minutes remaining.

The comeback attempt continued, and Western Michigan worked the lead all the way down to two points with 10 minutes remaining.

The Kent State defense, which allowed just 25 first-half points, gave up 28 in the first 10 minutes of the second half while the offense, which had 43 points in the first half, only had 12 in the first 10 minutes of the second half.

The Flashes, however, collected themselves on both ends of the court and went on a 16-2 run to take control of the game once more with a 69-55 lead.

However, they would again go cold, scoring no points for nearly four-and-a-half minutes and leaving the door for the underdog Broncos, who took advantage.

During Kent State’s scoreless stretch, Western Michigan scored 11 straight to bring itself to within three points with just under one minute to go. 

The Flashes would not cave and scored the game’s final four points to secure a 73-66 victory.

“That’s having leadership and having toughness and having been through a lot of battles throughout the year,” Senderoff said. “Going through the adversity that the team has gone through at different times during the season has gotten us to the point where we were able to withstand what we withstood tonight.”

Senior forward and First-Team All-MAC selection VonCameron Davis was a no-show, missing all five of his shots from the field, turning the ball over twice and getting into foul trouble.

“I told the team he should be fresh as a daisy tomorrow,” Senderoff said. “I guess that’s the beauty of the team, is that we have a First-Team All-Conference player who played 14 minutes and didn’t make a field goal, and we were still able to win in the conference tournament, so that speaks towards the depth of our roster.”

Despite the struggles, the scoring droughts and the Davis no-show, the fact is, Kent State never trailed after the opening minutes and earned a spot in the semifinals for the fourth straight year.

“If this game were in January, we would have lost. We were losing games like this in January,” Senderoff said. “We would have a lead or adversity would strike in a game, and we would splinter.”

The Flashes will battle with Miami in the semifinals Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Kent State lost both games to the RedHawks this season, one of which was a road overtime loss in which the Flashes were unable to protect a seven-point lead with under three minutes to go.

“Miami’s such a good offensive team, and they’re so good in transition and how well they shoot the ball. When we played them most recently, especially in the first half of that game, we really struggled with our matchups in transition,” Senderoff said. “We’re going to have to do a really good job limiting their three-point shooting.”

 Demetri Manousos is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].