Here’s the KSU report card on key benchmarks for the first game of the conference season:
Ball State 66, Kent State 62
GAME STORY: Ball State used 3-pointers, 4th-quarter scoring spurts to beat Flashes.
Score 70 points on offense: 69. Late rally took the Flashes close. NOT QUITE.
Hold opponent under 70: 74. MISSED.
Make 40% of shots: 34.0%. First half shooting was 23%. Second half 48%. Flashes dug themselves a hole they couldn’t get out of. MISSED.
Hold opponent under 40%: 32.8%. KSU’s best of season against a Division I team. But Eastern’s 3-point percentage was 66.7, and that was difference in game. SUCCESS WITH AN ASTERISK.
Outscore opponent by five on free throws: Eastern 28 of 35, Kent State 27 of 33. In foul-filled game, Eastern got to line more. MISSED.
Outscore opponent by five off of turnovers: Kent State 24, Eastern 19. A 16-2 margin in the fourth quarter give KSU the edge. MADE.
Have 14 assists: 7 on 18 baskets. Second lowest of season, both in Kent’s two MAC games. MISSED.
Get 10 points from the bench: 19, highest of the season. 11 points came because Asiah Dingle, who usually starts, came off the bench after two minutes. But the eight points without her is better than many games. But Eastern got 34 points from the bench.
BOTTOM LINE: Assists were low. Shooting percentage was low. 3-point defense was bad. And Flashes are 0-2 in the MAC.
MAC women’s ‘golf’ standings
This gives a team one point for a road win (under par) and subtracts a point for a home loss (over par). A home win gets zero.
Central Michigan won 73-71 at Ohio, the league’s preseason favorite, on a three-point shot from senior forward Gabrielle Bird with seven seconds to go. Central has opened the MAC with wins over Ohio and Akron and is the only league team with two road wins.
Ball State, Western Michigan and Eastern Michigan also posted road wins. Ball State beat Bowling Green 86-80 behind junior forward Oshlynn Brown’s 29 points. Eastern beat Kent State 74-69 in a game that wasn’t close until the last two minutes. Western beat Akron 56-51, using a 15-0 run in the fourth quarter.
Toledo beat Buffalo, which has the best record in the MAC, 71-59 in Toledo. Rockets led for the entire game.
Miami beat Northern Illinois 66-64 at home on a steal and a basket by junior college transfer Monique Esbrand with 1.8 seconds to go. Miami had trailed by 14 points with three minutes to go in the third quarter.
Central, Ball State, Eastern and Western are all 2-0. All are in the MAC West, which was supposed to be the weaker division this season.
THE GOLF STANDINGS
Central Michigan +2.
Ball State, Buffalo, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan +1.
Northern Illinois, Ohio. 0.
Bowling Green, Kent State, Miami, Toledo. -1.
Akron -2.
BEST SATURDAY GAMES:
- Ohio (1-1, 8-5) at Buffalo (1-1, 10-3).
- Eastern Michigan (2-0, 7-6) at Ball State (2-0, 10-4).
- Western Michigan (2-0, 9-4) at Kent State (0-2, 7-6).