Senior forward Delrecco Gillespie notched his nation leading, 16th double-double of the season, as the Kent State men’s basketball team soundly defeated the Ohio University Bobcats by a final score of 72-57 at home on Tuesday.
Physicality has been a struggle at times this season for KSU, but in every sense, the Flashes won that battle against Ohio. Holding the Bobcats to just 57 points and winning the rebounding battle by 20 kept the home team in the driver’s seat all night.
“We found a way to win because we guarded for 40 minutes,” coach Rob Senderoff said. “Now we have to get back to scoring the ball the way we are capable of.”
With the win, KSU improves its record to 15-5 (6-2) and has won four of its last five games. This matchup was also the largest margin of victory in a conference game for the Flashes this season.
The Bobcats dropped to 11-11 (5-5) with the loss and will not play KSU again this regular season. The Bobcats will stay on the road, taking a break until the end of the week when OU plays Buffalo on Saturday.
In Saturday’s matchup against the Eastern Michigan Eagles graduate forward Rob Whaley Jr. appeared to finish the game playing through injury in a double overtime victory. Unfortunately, Whaley Jr.’s injury kept him sidelined on Tuesday.
“Hopefully, he will be back here soon,” Senderoff said. “It’s not a long-term injury, but we will see where it’s at in the next couple of days.”
Losing Whaley Jr. for multiple games would undoubtedly be a challenge for KSU to overcome, as the forward is currently averaging 12.3 points and 4.1 rebounds per game, good for third on the team in both categories.
The supporting cast needed to step up to make up for Whaley Jr.’s production. Including freshman forward Dezmon Briscoe, who received the start tonight in his place.
Ohio attacked Briscoe early and often, immediately isolating the freshman defensively in a one-on-one matchup against senior forward Aidan Hadaway. Hadaway would score the first points of the game on Briscoe, displaying the Bobcats’ game plan to attack the young forward.
Gillespie scored seven of the Flashes’ first nine points, helping give his squad a 9-5 advantage early, but he went on to not score
the rest of the half. The senior forward only played eight minutes through the first half which is unusual for him as he currently leads the team in average minutes played at almost 34 per game.
Whaley Jr’s. paint presence was missed as the Flashes struggled to penetrate the paint, leading to the team settling on jump shots that were not falling at a high clip for most of the half.
Lack of scoring was evident in a nearly three minute stretch where KSU’s only point was a singular free throw from junior guard Jahari Williamson to put the Flashes within one at a score of 20-19.
In the final minutes of the half, the Flashes managed to gain as much as a seven-point lead courtesy of a layup from junior guard Cian Medley, but gave up a 3-pointer just six seconds later.
Halftime came with KSU ahead 28-24 in a half that, offensively, was not pretty for either team.
Misses plagued the first half of play as the Flashes shot 25% from three and just 31% from the field. The Bobcats shot marginally better from beyond the arc at 27.8%, but could only manage a 25% on a rough 8-for-32 effort from the field.
While points did not come in bunches through the first 20, scoring was evenly spread throughout the Flashes team. Gillespie led scoring with seven points, but five other Flashes contributed at least four points, including freshman guard Quinn Woidke, who hit one of his team’s three total 3-pointers.
Scoring came easier for the Flashes in the second half as graduate guard Morgan Safford started quickly with a 3-pointer.
Safford had a tough night offensively in his last game, scoring just four points, but managed to flush that performance and move on quickly as he led KSU in scoring Tuesday, with 18 points.
“Every night is not going to be your night,” Safford said. “You have to be able to flip the page quickly.”
Thanks to a 12-6 run to start the half, the Flashes started to put some distance between themselves and the Bobcats with just over fourteen minutes remaining in the period. A bucket from Gillespie gave the Flashes an 11 point lead.
As the Bobcats started inching closer to a comeback attempt with a 3-pointer from redshirt freshman forward Kiir Kuany, a hush fell over the once excited crowd at the M.A.C. Center.
With under 10 minutes remaining, the Bobcats tied the matchup after an 18-7 run capped off by a Hadaway jumper. Ohio’s bench erupted with excitement following the make as the Bobcats pushed themselves back into the game.
Still, the Flashes felt in control the whole night and proved that to be true by rattling off 24 points in the final seven minutes.
Graduate forward Magnus Entenmann sent the home crowd into a frenzy after a breakaway dunk in the final seconds of the night, as the mildly filled crowd sounded like a packed stadium for a moment.
Entenmann took advantage of extra minutes without Whaley Jr. on the court, earning a double-double, scoring a season high 12 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.
Looking ahead
For the final game of January, the Flashes will take a quick bus ride to take on Akron in the first of two games against the Zips in a
Friday night rivalry game.
Every matchup between the longtime rivals carries weight, but this season’s edition means more. Seeding for the Mid-American Conference Tournament will be directly impacted on Friday as KSU currently sits third in the standings, while Akron is just one game ahead in second place.
“We are going to have to play well for sure because they are an elite team,” Senderoff said. “It’s going to be a really challenging game for our guys.”
With the season creeping closer to a conclusion, both teams will be desperate to win in a meeting that will undoubtedly be a must-watch game between conference rivals.
“We are going in there with one mindset,” Safford said. “To win.”
Josh Szeremet is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].
