Kent State’s men’s basketball team (12-5, 3-1 Mid-American Conference) outpaced Ohio University (0-6, 1-3 MAC) in the second half during its 89-82 win over the Bobcats.

After a tight-knit, back-and-forth first half, the Flashes led by as many as 14 points in the second half, led by the backcourt trio of senior Xavier Pollard and his 23 points, junior Kellon Thomas, who scored 20 points and freshman Jaylin Walker who added 16 off the bench.

“I thought Jaylin gave us a huge spark off the bench. Especially in the first half when we struggled to score, he was our offense for a little bit,” coach Rob Senderoff said. “Xavier’s been a good player all year and tonight was one of his best games.”

Junior Jimmy Hall added 15 points and 10 rebounds.

“(It was a) great effort by our guys tonight. Ohio came out really hot early shooting the basketball, but in the second half I thought we really guarded, move the ball well and made free throw when we needed to,” Senderoff said.  “I thought (grad student Galal Cancer) did a great job defensively on (junior Kenny) Kaminski.”

Kaminski scored 16 of his eventual 21 points in the first half, but was held to just three shot attempts in the second.

“I just tried to make everything difficult for him,” Cancer said. “Coach challenged us after our loss to Buffalo to take pride defensively, so it’s definitely something that I took to heart.”

Junior Antonio Campbell added 21 points and nine rebounds for the Bobcats. Senior Treg Setty and freshman Gavin Block added 12 points each for Ohio.

The Flashes will be on the road for their next two games against Ball State University (12-5, 3-1 MAC) and Bowling Green State University (12-5, 3-1 MAC). Their first home game of the spring semester will be Jan. 26 against Eastern Michigan University (10-7, 2-2 MAC) at 7 p.m.

Stephen Means II is the sports editor for The Kent Stater. Contact him at [email protected].