Men's hoops team loses 60-54 to Kent
They rushed, but ended with no gold.
In what was billed as the second game of the "Gold Rush" doubleheader at CMU, the men's basketball team came up short, falling 60-54 to the Golden Flashes from Kent State in front of 4,782 fans at Rose Arena.
But for the Flashes, it was no easy stroll as CMU offered some tough resistance.
"For the most part, I thought the game was pretty damn even. It came down to one or two possessions that they made and we missed. That was the game," CMU Head Coach Jay Smith said.
Those possessions came down the stretch, where Kent did just enough to win the game, while CMU did just enough to fall short.
"It was a hard fought battle. They (Central) play with a lot of confidence at home and when you're the hunted, you're just happy to get out of here with a win," Kent State Head Coach Gary Watters said.
The first key play came when junior guard Andrew Mitchell drove the baseline and put Kent up 57-54 with 2:36 remaining in the game.
That was followed up by a David Webber missed 3-point attempt and a Jon Borovich foul on Trevor Huffman, who hit both free throws to lift Kent to a 59-54 lead.
After failing to convert, CMU was forced to foul and Borovich was hit with a flagrant foul, which fortunately for the Chippewas resulted in no points.
But the tone was set.
CMU was down and it was now playing the foul game.
Finally after Kent center John Whorton missed multiple free throw attempts, Mitchell iced the game with a final free throw.
Despite coming up short, Smith still saw positives in the way Central performed.
"When you're 2-9, you make a statement of how you play. Our guys refuse to die. We played with enthusiasm, intensity and great preparation," Smith said.
Watters was just pleased to come out ahead.
"We missed seven opportunities to put the team away," he said.
Kent made a run early in the second half to come back on the Chippewas who led 23-22 at the half.
CMU has now lost five out of nine games in which it led at halftime.
The bench played a key role in Kent's victory as it outscored CMU's bench 26-8.
"The difference was our bench. They did a great job," Watters said.
Huffman led the way scoring 17 points off the bench in a 5-for-6 shooting performance.
"Trevor came through many times when they came back (on us)," Watters said.
Senior guard Nate Meers added eight points, including a couple of key three's off the bench as well.
Kyrem Massey finished with 12 points, while Mitchell ended with 10.
The surprise for Kent was the lack of production from its 6-8 senior center Whorton.
Whorton finished with only three points, shooting only 1-of-3 from the floor.
A swarm of CMU defenders, led by Chad Pleiness shut Whorton down.
"We put the clamps on Whorton today. Whorton only shot the ball three times. Pleiness just refused to die today.
"But it was not just Chad. We had backside help and a kamikaze group coming at him," Smith said.
Pleiness also had the hot hand on the offensive end finishing with a game-high 21 points on an 8-of-10 shooting performance.
"He (Pleiness) is a hard matchup. We had to put a big guy on him and he did a great job. He is a great fit and provided (us with) a matchup problem," Watters said.
Webber was the only other Chippewa in double digits with 10, but they were 10 tough points.
Smith notes that teams are now starting to focus their defensive efforts toward Webber.
"You put Mike (Manciel) in there with David and the focus is not on David," Smith said.
Borovich chipped in seven points, shooting 3-for-3 from the floor.
The loss dropped CMU to 5-16 overall and 2-10 in the Mid-American Conference, while Kent upped its record to 17-4 and 9-3.
CMU now travels to Athens, Ohio on Wednesday to take on the Ohio Bobcats and then it's on to rival Western for a Saturday afternoon game on Feb. 12, before returning home again on Valentine's day to play another rival, Eastern Michigan.
