KENT: If there was ever going to be an overtime game for Kent State this season, of course, it would come against Western Michigan.
Nothing has come easy when these two teams have matched up the last few years and Saturday’s game at the M.A.C. Center was no exception.
Golden Flashes fans remember well the soaring highlight-reel dunk by then-KSU senior guard Rodriquez Sherman two years ago that handed Kent State an emphatic win at the buzzer.
Last season at Western Michigan, Flashes point guard Michael Porrini won the game with his own heroics just before the buzzer.
This time around, the teams needed overtime to determine a winner after a flurry to the finish line in regulation ended in a deadlock.
Kent State took early control of the extra five-minute period via an 8-0 run, but still needed a last-second defensive play to escape with a hard-fought 78-73 victory.
Kent State standout Justin Greene summed it up for WMU coach Steve Hawkins afterward when the teams were shaking hands before heading into the locker room. When the senior forward got to Hawkins, he leaned down and said, “It’s always a good one, Coach.”
Hawkins response?
“Yeah, for you,” he told Greene.
“[For me], it’s getting old. Three years in a row, it’d be great if we got one [win].”
With eight seconds to go in overtime and just three points separating the teams after a pair of missed free throws by KSU’s Chris Evans, Porrini once again came up with the play of the game.
In a scramble for the ball on a rebound, Porrini knocked it away and then off Broncos senior guard Demetrius Ward. As Porrini flew by him, the ball landed in the laps of players on the Kent State bench.
“It was a great hustle play by Mike,” KSU coach Rob Senderoff said. “Chris Evans stole the ball, then they stole the ball back. Then as [Porrini] was diving out of bounds, he managed to throw it off Ward.”
How could Porrini have such presence of mind in the flash of an instant? Consider it savvy senior experience.
“I saw he was going to allow it go out of bounds,” he said. “I was just playing hard and I just wanted to save it.
‘‘I knew if I could save it and throw it back in to him, I knew it would go off of him and he wouldn’t be ready for it.”
With the win, the Flashes improved to 16-6 overall and 6-3 in the Mid-American Conference. The Broncos dropped to 10-13, 4-5.
Greene led Kent State with 19 points. Evans had nine of his 18 points (seven coming from the free-throw line) in overtime, including his offensive rebound tip-dunk that ignited KSU’s opening run.
“As a group we don’t want to lose and to come out and lose in front of our home fans is devastating to us,” said Holt, who added 13 points. “We wanted to do whatever it took to get the win — and that’s what we did. We found a way to win tonight. It wasn’t pretty, but we got it done.”
Senior guard Carlton Guyton rounded out Flashes in double-figure scoring with 14 points. He also had six assists.
Western Michigan’s Ward led all scorers with 21 points, in addition to 10 rebounds and seven assists.
With about five minutes left in regulation, the Flashes trailed by five. Junior guard Randal Holt then began to find his stroke from outside. Holt hit a 3-pointer to tie the score 61-61 at the 2:03 mark, then made another on the Flashes’ next possession to give Kent State a 64-61 lead with 1:22 to go.
“That’s Randal for you,” Senderoff said. “The one thing he’ll never lack is confidence. …That’s a great quality to have because it’s not easy to forget that you hadn’t shot the ball real well and then just let it fly.”
In the first half, Western Michigan took a 33-32 advantage into halftime on a 3-pointer by forward Nate Hutcheson, who hit the shot with just 6.4 seconds left. It was WMU’s first lead of the game.
Stephanie Storm can be reached at sstorm@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow Storm on Twitter at www.twitter.com/sstorm13. Follow Beacon Journal sports on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sports.abj.
