Mayhem ensues in the M.A.C. Center as graduate senior Rob Whaley Jr. sunk a mid-range shot with one second on the clock to complete a second-half comeback for the Kent State men’s basketball team on Tuesday.

On a night the Flashes had no business winning, Whaley Jr.’s clutch shot led his team to an 83-81 win over the Central Michigan Chippewas.

“One of those games the guys willed themselves to get a win,” coach Rob Senderoff said. “We did not play great until the last seven minutes.”

KSU trailed for almost 38 minutes, almost 95% of the game, and seemed to be heading towards its second loss against the Chippewas this season before completing the comeback.

Opening 7-for-7 from the floor, CMUs elite shooting was kept up for the entire night. Finishing over 50% from the floor and 48% from 3-point range kept the Chippewas in the driver’s seat most of the night.

“When you make them early because we aren’t playing as competitively as we should, it makes it easier to knock them down later,” Senderoff said. “Give those guys credit.”

Turnovers were another contributor to the Flashes’ early deficit, committing nine in the first half, but were cleaned up in the second half, finishing with 13 giveaways in the matchup.

Heading into halftime trailing by 10 felt like nothing short of a miracle for KSU, following the Chippewas impressive shooting.

All season long, the Flashes have been no strangers to large deficits and have consistently found that extra gear when needed most in these games. Tuesday’s meeting was no different, trailing by as many as 19 and 11 with just over seven minutes remaining.

“We just want to win,” senior forward Delrecco Gillespie said. “When we were in media timeouts, we were just saying we have to pick up our intensity.”

Emotions ran high in the second half as graduate guard Morgan Safford fouled out after being assessed a technical foul. Safford finished with 14 points in 28 minutes but sat through most of the Flashes’ comeback.

In Safford’s place, freshman guard Quinn Woidke stepped up, as he has done consistently this season. Finishing a perfect 4-for-4 from the field, Woidke scored 15 points, including three 3-pointers that gave the home crowd signs of life for the first time all night.

“Quinn played really well tonight with his competitiveness and toughness,” Senderoff said. “He made some big shots for us when we were really struggling.”

Woidke was not the only player to come up big for KSU as junior guard Jahari Williamson scored 16 points but more importantly brought a level of toughness the team lacked earlier in the game.

With 14:42 remaining, Williamson ran to the bench screaming in pain after dislocating his finger. The guard returned to the game minutes later after getting his finger put back in place and played the rest of the night.

“His level of growth in toughness this season is as much as anyone I’ve been around,” Senderoff said. “Really proud of watching his growth as a player.”

Averaging 9.8 points per game this season, Williamson stepping up on both sides of the ball could be a large boost to the Flashes’ Mid-American Conference championship chances in Cleveland.

Consistently, it felt like whenever CMU’s shooting eventually cooled off was when the Flashes could take the momentum and run with it. While the shooting never fell to their season average of 31.8%, a slight cool off was taken advantage of by KSU.

Executing a 24-11 run in the final eight minutes led to Whaley Jr.’s buzzer-beating shot that broke the Chippewas’ hearts as he ran across the court, chest bumping his teammates while screaming.

“It was a big shot, but it’s a shot I work on,” Whaley Jr. said. “When you expect yourself in big moments, you expect those shots to go in.”

A big contributor to this Flashes run was early foul trouble for CMU leading to KSU getting in the bonus. Any aggressive physical defense was difficult for the Chippewas to execute because any fouls led to free throws that the Flashes capitalized on.

What’s next

KSU remains home for the second and final matchup of the regular season, facing off against the Akron Zips on Friday night.

In the first matchup, the Flashes were run out of James A. Rhoades Arena by a final of 52-69. An abysmal shooting performance, finishing just 1-for-23 from beyond the arc, was the biggest reason for KSUs most disappointing loss of the season.

Disappointing results against “the school down the road” is nothing new, as the Flashes have not beaten them since the 2022-23 season.

“In order for us to win in Cleveland, more than likely we will have to beat Akron at some point,” Senderoff said. “We have to learn what we need to do to beat them in two weeks.”

Josh Szeremet is a reporter. Contact him at j[email protected].