Some of Kent State’s best defense of the season gave it an excellent report card for its 68-50 win over Akron Wednesday.
GAME STORY: Still-improving defense, Blackford’s 15 rebounds give Kent State big win over Akron.
Kent State 68, Akron 50
Score 70 points on offense: 68, not quite, but Flashes were slowing the game down at end. Almost ACHIEVED.
Hold opponent under 70: 50. Second best in conference play, fourth best in season. Akron scored four points in fourth quarter. ACHIEVED.
Make 40% of shots: 40.7. Just made it. Again, 3-point percentage was of concern —five of 18 for 28%. ACHIEVED.
Hold opponent under 40%: 30.2. Kent State’s best of the season against a Division I team. ACHIEVED.
Outscore opponent by five on free throws: Kent State was 15 of 23, Akron 13 of 20 — neither a great percentage. NOT ACHIEVED.
Outscore opponent by five points off turnovers: Kent State 17, Akron 12 though Flashes actually had one more turnover (16-15). ACHIEVED.
Have 14 assists: 11 on 24 baskets. Asiah Dingle had five. (Akron had just six, the third straight game and fifth out of last six when KSU’s opponent didn’t reach 10.) NOT ACHIEVED.
Get 10 points from the bench: 32. Leading scorer Asiah Dingle had 18 and usual starter Nila Blackford had seven. ACHIEVED.
BOTTOM LINE: A very good win thanks to a very good defense. A.
Around the MAC
Every home team won, so “golf” standings didn’t change. With just three games to go, their usefulness is becoming limited, but they do tell us a little about who has home court advantage in the remaining games.
The regular standings, however, did see significant movement.
Central Michigan clinched its fourth straight regular-season title and stayed undefeated in the conference with a 78-60 win over Western Michigan.
Last-place Bowling Green knocked Ohio out of a second-place tie with a convincing 82-68 win.
Ball State beat Toledo 66-60 to claim sole possession of second place. The Cardinals host Central Michigan Saturday. Ball State is undefeated at home in the MAC; Central is undefeated, period, in the conference. Something has to give.
Western’s loss and Eastern Michigan’s 65-59 loss at Northern Illinois gave Kent State sole possession of fourth place, the last spot to get a bye to the quarterfinals in Cleveland in next month’s MAC Tournament. Kent is just a game behind Ohio in third place.
BEST GAMES THIS SATURDAY: Central Michigan at Ball State. Buffalo at Ohio.
The ‘golf’ standings
They give a team -1 for a road win (a “birdie”) and adds a point for a home loss (a “bogey.” A home win or road loss gets zero (“par”).
-7
- Central Michigan (15-0, 22-4)
-3
- Ball State (11-6, 19-8)
- Ohio (10-5, 17-9)
-1
- Kent State (9-6, 16-10)
- Western Michigan (8-7, 15-11)
- Eastern Michigan (8-7, 13-12)
+1
- Akron (6-9, 13-13)
+2
- Buffalo (6-9, 15-11)
- Toledo (6-9, 11-15)
+3
- Miami (4-11, 11-16)
- Northern Illinois (4-10, 8-17)
+6
- Bowling Green (2-13, 9-18)