Kent State men's basketball turns back Buffalo to stay atop Mid-American Conference
The Kent State men’s basketball team won its 17th consecutive home game Friday night, 74-68 over Buffalo.
The Golden Flashes (17-4, 7-1 Mid-American Conference) were led by Sincere Carry, who finished with 24 points and seven assists. Kent State has the second-longest current home winning streak in the country, behind UCLA.
“The students have been awesome since they have been back,” KSU coach Rob Senderoff said. “I think when our kids come down and see that section building up and being packed, it’s an energy that it brings to the team.”
Kent State, 10-0 inside the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center this season, led 42-31 at halftime and still led by 13 (73-60) with 1:21 remaining in the game before the Bulls (10-11, 4-4) made a late push.
Chris Payton, making his second start of the season in place of Cli'Ron Hornbeak, added 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting. He also had eight rebounds and five blocked shots.
“It’s amazing. The fans are great, the environment is great,” Payton said. “They bring great energy and we feed off of that.”
Kent State’s defense made a difference in the early part of the game. Buffalo opened the game going 0-for-7 from the floor and 0-for-3 from 3-point range. The Bulls did not score until the 15:01 mark of the first half.
“I thought that was a real big … how we started on the defensive end,” Senderoff said. “We didn’t shoot it great throughout the game, but our defensive intensity was there the entire night and that was the difference in the game.”
The Flashes had an 11-0 start before Buffalo’s first basket.
KSU struggled early from 3-point range, however, going 3-for-15 in the first half and 5-for-24 overall. But the Bulls also struggled making just two of their first 13 attempts.
The Flashes, the MAC’s best team this season in turnover margin, forced six turnovers early as they built a 14-8 lead with 11:51 remaining. KSU went on an 8-0 run, extending its lead to 31-17 with 5:29 to go before halftime.
Payton was dominant in the first half with 10 points, four rebounds and four blocked shots.
“That is something [Senderoff] has been trying to get me to do all year,” Payton said. “Whenever I’m stepping up heading to the ball screen and they throw the ball down, I’m supposed to recover it as fast as possible and I was just timing it up great tonight.”
While struggling to score from 3-point range, the Flashes did have success around the basket, scoring 24 points in the paint in the first half.
“Our overall ability to get inside the defense off ball screens or off some of the actions that we were running allowed us to score on top of the rim,” Senderoff said. “Chris was rolling to the basket, getting some dunks so those were the things we were able to do pretty consistently throughout the night.”
Buffalo started the half with 5-0 run while Kent State went scoreless for the first 3:22. It was 47-40 before the Flashes went on a 14-7 run over the span of six minutes, and led 61-47 with 7:07 remaining. The Bulls got the margin under 10 with only 27 seconds to go.
“It was a little bit sloppy at the end,” Senderoff said. “But for 38 minutes we played really well and that is what we needed to do to get back on track.”
Carry made 10-of-19 shots overall but was just 1-for-6 on 3-pointers.
“I feel great, and I feel like I could’ve always performed like this,” Payton said. “I can’t really tell you why I haven’t been up to this point, but now the confidence is obviously there and I believe in myself and the fact that my team is going to find me and allow me to perform the way I have been.”
Sophomore guard Jalen Sullinger added 11 points with three rebounds and a steal. The MAC’s leading 3-point shooter was 3-for-5 from deep.
“Jalen hit some big 3s on some out-of-bounds plays,” Senderoff said. “Two 3s and we needed both of those.”
Kent State stays home to play Central Michigan at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Kent State men's basketball defeats Buffalo in Mid-American Conference
