The Golden Flashes couldn’t keep up with Bucknell for a full 40 minutes and fell to the Bison on the road 76-60 Tuesday night.
Kent State (5-4) trailed Bucknell 32-31 at halftime but behind Bison forward-center Mike Muscala’s game-high 27 points on 12-17 shooting, couldn’t find enough scoring to keep pace. After shooting only 34 percent against Princeton Saturday night, the Flashes again struggled from the floor and finished Tuesday night 20-51 from the field (39 percent). KSU actually shot better from the 3-point range at 46.7 percent.
Early in the second half, Bucknell (8-1) went on a 9-0 run from which the Flashes could never recover.
Devareaux Manley saw extended minutes and scored a team-high 15 points on 4-7 shooting and 3-5 from the 3-point range. Randal Holt was largely a non-factor with only six points. Kris Brewer added 10 points.
The Flashes had trouble once again defending the paint without freshman forward Chris Ortiz, who will miss at least six weeks after he had surgery on his broken foot over the weekend.
