KENT: For 28 minutes Wednesday night at the M.A.C. Center, it appeared that the University of Akron was going to have a two-game lead in the East Division of the Mid-American Conference.

But for the final 12 minutes, Kent State did more than enough to deny that opportunity and came away with a 75-69 victory that left the two neighboring rivals in a tie for first place.

The Zips (14-4, 4-1) led 35-25 at the half and 46-39 with 12:10 remaining.

That's when the Flashes (15-4, 4-1) shifted gears and made a series of offensive and defensive plays that resulted in a closing 36-23 show of momentum.

''To put it simply, they made plays and we didn't,'' said senior guard Nick Dials, who led the Zips in scoring with 22 points. ''They did it by playing harder than we did. In the first half, we matched their intensity.

''When they got on that big run in the second half, we didn't match it.''

Senior Jeremiah Wood said the Flashes fed off their fan base, which made up a high percentage of the capacity crowd of 6,518.

''Their crowd was a definite advantage,'' said Wood, who scored 11 of his 14 points in the first half. ''The crowd got them real hyped. They started to play harder, play more aggressively.''

In the first half, the Zips shot 52.2 percent (12-of-23) from the floor, including 53.8 percent (7-of-13) from behind the 3-point arc. In the second half, that changed markedly as UA made 37.9 percent (11-of-29) from the floor and 33 percent (5-of-15) on 3-pointers.

The poor second-half shooting from long distance could have been worse because the Zips made their last four after starting 1-of-11.

Much of that was because of a harassing Flashes defense that allowed few uncontested shots.

''They got into our shorts,'' Dials said. ''They didn't let us do what we wanted to do. We didn't execute our offense in the second half.''

Despite shooting like that in the first half, Zips coach Keith Dambrot lectured his team in the locker room about settling for jumpers instead of getting the ball inside to Wood and others.

Dambrot cautioned his players that doing that would come back to haunt them, which it did.

''I thought the first half was fool's gold,'' Dambrot said. ''I thought the first half was not good for us.''

The Zips' defense was at its best in those 28 minutes in denying Kent State many easy baskets. But, down the stretch, the Flashes got the ball inside for layups and dunks.

''We beat them up inside when we beat them four times in a row,'' Dambrot said. ''Tonight, they beat us up inside.''

Another factor in the loss was one that didn't just haunt the Zips in the second half. They committed 11 turnovers in the first half and 12 turnovers in the second half.

''This was not one of our better games,'' Dambrot said. ''They revved it up on us.

''That may be my (his team's) career high in turnovers. You can't come in here, make 23 turnovers and expect to win.''

The Zips' miserable game ended in a melee with 4.6 seconds left that resulted in pushing and shoving, as well as technical fouls on Quade Milum of the Zips and Haminn Quaintance of the Flashes.

''It was in the heat of the moment,'' Dambrot said. ''Young people lose their heads.''

The Zips will attempt to get back on track Saturday afternoon on the road at Central Michigan (7-10, 2-3).