Box Score

In order to score more points in the paint, the Kent State men’s basketball team set a goal leading into the 2014-2015 season: establish a sturdier inside presence.

That’s one of the reasons why head coach Rob Senderoff recruited redshirt sophomore Jimmy Hall two seasons ago.

After being forced to wait a full season of eligibility before seeing action in a blue and gold uniform, Hall finally got the chance to play as a Flash, and his debut didn’t disappoint.

Hall scored 12 of his team-leading 14 points in the second half of Saturday night’s game to lead the Flashes to a 69-61 victory over the Youngstown State University Penguins.

“It’s nice to get a road win obviously to start the season,” Kent State coach Rob Senderoff said in the postgame press conference. “In the second half in particular I thought we played pretty well outside of probably the last minute of the game. We didn’t close it out great, but for the other 19 minutes, I thought we pretty well.”

Living by the three

Senderoff and company said before the season began that the team would rely less on the three and more on an inside presence offensively this upcoming season.

The Flashes tried to stick to that same game plan in their season opener Saturday night, but sometimes past instincts kick in and take over in order to get things going.

When juniors Hall, Khaliq Spicer and Chris Ortiz — Kent State’s big men — ran into early foul trouble in the first half, the Flashes turned to the three ball to build a 35-33 lead by halfitme.

Because Spicer and Hall were forced to take a seat with two fouls apiece, the Flashes needed to rely more heavily on their parameter game than Senderoff and the squad had originally intended.

Kent State only had 10 points in the paint compared to the Penguins’ 20 in the first half but scored 18 of its 35 first-half points from beyond the arc. The team shot 6 of 12 — or 50 percent —  from three, four of which came from junior Devareaux Manley’s fingertips.

Manley came off the bench and heated up quickly, providing the Flashes with the most energy on a 12-point, 4-of-6 shooting effort. He was also four for six from beyond the arc, as all six of his shot attempts were from three-point range.

“In the first half, Dev really kept us in the game,” Senderoff said. “Without Dev, we’re probably down 12 at halftime. Then in the second half, I don’t think Dev took a shot, and I don’t think he cared one bit.” 

Kent State’s bench gave the team a lift when it needed it most, especially since four Flashes had at least two fouls and the team racked up a total of 13 fouls in the first half alone.

Youngstown State won the battle of the boards by a narrow 37-36 margin, but Kent State outscored the Penguins 26-5 off of the bench.

An inside second-half game

Often in Mid American Conference basketball, the big postmen are the difference makers and can sometimes mean the difference between winning and losing a game. 

Such was the case with Kent State’s frontcourt in the second half of Saturday’s game.

The offense that launched 12 3-pointers in the first half settled down and only attempted three threes in the second half. Youngstown State might have outscored Kent State in the paint, 34-30, but the Flashes’ second-half stand inside helped them pull away and notch a “W” in the win column.

“In the first half we just didn’t guard it as well as we should and could, but we had the lead at halftime, and in the second half we came out with a lot more defensive energy, got more loose balls, got more offensive rebounds, made more hustle plays, so it was good to see, ” Senderoff said. “We only took 15 threes out of 44 shots, so we were pretty effective at getting the ball inside.” 

Kent State scored 20 points in the paint in the second half, doubling its first-half when only nine of the team’s 21 shots were attempted inside the arc.

The Flashes pounded the ball inside more and fed it to Spicer, Ortiz and Hall, something they had a difficult time doing in the first half due to foul troubles.

Hall, who was virtually shut down offensively in the first half, exploded and led the Flashes with 11 second-half points on 5-of-7 shooting effort. Spicer was right behind his teammate with six points.

“We talked a lot at halftime about how we needed to go inside more in the second half,” Senderoff said. “I thought Jimmy was a difference in the second half. He showed us some of the things he is going to give us in the post this season. Khaliq and Chris also made some big plays down the stretch on both ends of the floor.”

Once Kent State worked the ball in the paint, it also opened up other shots on the court as well.

Senior point guard Kris Brewer finally found his touch, as he tallied 10 points in second half compared to the two points he could only muster in the first.

Once Kent State built up a substantial 11-point lead with just a minute and a half left to play, the Flashes coasted to their first victory of the season.

“It’s a good way to start the season,” Hall said of the win. “I’m looking forward to the rest of the season when we mold and become more of a team, it’s going to be fun.”

Looking ahead

Kent State will return to the M.A.C. Center on Tuesday, Nov. 18 to take on Malone University in the Flashes’ home opener. Tipoff is at 8 p.m.

The Pioneers (0-2) opened up their 2014-2015 men’s basketball season at the GLVC/GLIAC Challenge in Romeoville, Illinois this weekend and lost both season-opening games.

Malone dropped its second contest of the season Saturday to Lewis University, 91-62, after the Flyers outscored Malone, 44-27, in the second half.

Contact Richie Mulhall at [email protected].