UPDATE: Kent State Beats Akron 79-68

Justin Greene told Rodriguez Sherman that he would not let him go out with a loss on his senior night. Greene kept true to his word.           

In front of a sellout crowd and behind Greene’s 18 points and 10 rebounds, the Kent State knocked off rival Akron 79-68 to give the Golden Flashes back-to-back regular season MAC titles for the first time in school history.

Even though both teams were postseason locks, the game was played with playoff-like intensity. “Tonight was a blast for our players,” Kent State head coach Geno Ford said. “It had a feeling of a big-time game. The people were here, the atmosphere was great.”

Ford became the first head coach in 48 years to win  back-to-back outright MAC Regular Season titles.

Kent State (21-10) went into the game with a two-game advantage over Akron (19-12) for first place in the MAC East conference. The Golden Flashes' conference record now stands at 12-4, tops in the entire MAC. The win tonight locked up the No. 1 seed in the MAC tournament and was their fifth regular season title in the past 10 years.

Earlier in the season, the Zips beat the Golden Flashes 65-62 thanks to center Zeke Marshall’s 20 points and 11 rebounds. Tonight, it was a different story. Marshall was held to just eight points and three rebounds, in part due to the strong play of Greene.

“That’s the best game Justin Greene has had in a while,” Ford said after the game.

With his first bucket of the game, Greene became the 28th player in Kent State history to score 1,000 points in his career. Earlier this season, senior guard Rodriguez Sherman also joined the 1,000-point club. Sherman, the lone senior for the Golden Flashes, was honored before tonight’s game, as it would be the last time he would put on his Kent State jersey in front of the home crowd.

The first half was filled with the kind of back-and-forth action typical for this heated rivalry. As soon as Kent would score a key bucket, Akron would answer with a 3-pointer. Sloppy play on both sides of the ball — and maybe a touch of nerves — resulted in 12 total turnovers in the first half. Junior forward Justin Greene led the way for Kent State with eight first-half points, as Quincy Diggs led Akron with seven points. The Zips went into the locker room with a 31-27 lead. 

Greene picked up right where he left off in the second half. The six-time MAC Player of the Week scored eight of the team’s first 12 second-half points to tie the game at 39-39. With 12:25 remaining, junior guard Carlton Guyton sent the crowd into a frenzy with a dashing crossover followed by a one-handed slam that put the Golden Flashes up 44-43. It was their first lead of the game for Kent State since 8:14 in the first half.

Both teams exchanged buckets back and forth mid-second half. With 5:16 remaining, Randall Holt hit a key 3-pointer to give the Golden Flashes a 64-58 lead. Kent State never looked back.

A shot clock violation for the Zips with 2:45 remaining mentally put them out of the game.  With one minute remaining and the home crowd on their feet, Sherman found Holt for a huge 3-pointer that put the Golden Flashes ahead for good, 75-66.

In any rivalry, emotions run high. An Akron-Kent game would not be complete without someone being thrown out. With 10 seconds left and the game clearly written up as a Kent State victory, Akron guard Darius Leonard was hit with two technical fouls after being too chatty with the officials and was escorted off the court.

Akron was outscored 52-37 in the second half.

“When it mattered, they out-athleted us and they out-toughed us,” Akron head coach Keith Dambrot said after the game. This was obvious with the play of the guards, as all three Kent State guards scored in double figures. Sherman finished the contest with 17 points, Guyton poured in 16 and Holt added 14.

Diggs led all Akron scorers with 12 points, as both Brett McKnight and Darryl Roberts added 11 points each.

Both Akron and Kent State are set to prepare for the MAC tournament, which starts next Wednesday at Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena.

Sherman agreed that there was no better way to cap off his career as a Golden Flash than with a win at home, on senior night, against rival Akron.

“It still isn’t over yet, though,” he was quick to point out.