Kent State men's basketball "locked in" during MAC tournament rout of Northern Illinois
CLEVELAND — The bitter memory of a cold night in January provided all the fuel to the competitive fire the Kent State men's basketball team needed for its Mid-American Conference tournament quarterfinal at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. The No. 2 Golden Flashes avenged a regular-season loss to No. 7 Northern Illinois with an impressive 76-57 victory over the Huskies on Thursday.
The Huskies scored a season-high 86 points against the Golden Flashes in that first meeting, but it was clear nearly from the opening tip this was going to be a very different game. Northern Illinois (13-19) was limited to 22% shooting (6-of-27) from the field in the first half as Kent State (26-6) built a 31-18 lead and never looked back.
"We just weren't locked in that first game," Kent State's Malique Jacobs said. "I think the last time we played we were being hyped a lot. A lot of people were shouting Kent State out. We thought that game was going to be an easy win but we forgot that we have a target on our back. Today we were ready to play."
There was little question whether or not Jacobs was ready for this game. The 2023 MAC Defensive Player of the Year led the way with 19 points, four rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots.
"I'm ready when my number is called," Jacobs said.
More importantly, Jacobs stymied Northern Illinois sophomore guard David Coit. Coit scored 32 points against KSU in the first meeting but was held to just three points in the first half and 10 points total.
"That was my main focus," Jacobs said. "It wasn't getting buckets. It was stopping Coit."
Jacobs was far from the only Golden Flash ready to go. Sophomore center Cli'Ron Hornbeak scored a season-high 16 points to go with nine rebounds and two blocked shots.
"I thought Cli'Ron was great," Kent State head coach Rob Senderoff said. "He had five offensive rebounds for us."
Miryne Thomas had a double-double of 10 points and 14 rebounds. Jalen Sullinger added 11 points off the bench.
Kent State won easily despite an off shooting game from All-MAC first-team selection Sincere Carry. Carry still managed 13 points on 5-of-16 shooting from the field. That should not be cause for concern going forward.
"We had a couple of guys that maybe didn't play as well as they are used to offensively," Senderoff said. "You can talk about games during the year where the next game they play great on offense You've got to have a short memory. You try to take every experience you've had during the regular season and apply it here in Cleveland."
Zarique Nutter led Northern Illinois with 13 points. Anthony Crump also had 10 points for the Huskies, who were haunted by the slow start.
"It was disappointing how we lost," Northern Illinois head coach Rashon Burno said. "I thought our guys didn't have the attention and the aggression needed in the first four minutes in this magnitude of a game."
Kent State advances and will play the winner of the Akron-Buffalo game in the MAC tournament semifinals on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
"We have a chance to play Friday night in Cleveland," Senderoff said. "That's awesome. I've been in the league a long time now and nothing is given when you come up here. The fact that we're playing tomorrow night is great. Now we need to focus."
Reach Cliff at cliff.hickman@cantonrep.com
On Twitter: @chickmanREP
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Malique Jacobs leads Kent State basketball to MAC tournament rout
