Kent State men's basketball writes its Hollywood ending to win 2023 MAC Tournament title
Following a semifinal win over rival Akron, Miryne Thomas said the Mid-American Conference Tournament title game would be like a movie for the Kent State men's basketball team.
The Golden Flashes wrote their own Hollywood ending Saturday, overpowering the top-seeded Toledo Rockets 93-78 to win the MAC Tournament at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
The MAC Tournament title comes with the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. It'll be the Golden Flashes' first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2017. They haven't won an NCAA Tournament game since 2002, when they went on a run — one that was like a movie of its own — all the way to the Elite Eight.
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The NCAA Selection Show is Sunday night.
"I think we're going to try to make a bigger name for ourselves than we already made," Thomas told reporters in Cleveland. "Everybody in the country knows we're a good team, now we gotta show 'em."
Sincere Carry scored a game-high 26 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the floor to go with three rebounds and four assists. Malique Jacobs finished with 18 points, 13 rebounds and six assists.
Those two were instrumental late in the second half as the Flashes put the nail in the proverbial coffin for the Rockets, who entered the game with the second-ranked offense in the country.
Chris Payton had an efficient 17 points on 7-of-7 shooting to go with five rebounds and two blocks. Thomas finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. Jaren Sullinger added 12 points, including a corner 3-pointer off a no-look pass from Carry that extended KSU's lead to 11 points with four minutes remaining in the second half.
A year ago, four KSU players were suspended for the MAC title game against Akron after a video was published to social media. It led to a 20-point loss, and it was certainly not forgotten by those still on the Flashes roster. The score of that game — 75-55 — became a constant reminder of what happened, and how KSU had fallen short of its goals. It even became the security code on the door lock to their locker room. In that way, Saturday night's win was a form of redemption.
"Coming here last year, we lost, and we kept 75-55 in our head," Carry said. "Every time I was tired or I didn't want to wake up to go to a workout at 7 in the morning or go get some shots up late, I just remembered: 75-55."
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Kent State men's basketball beats Toledo for MAC Tournament title
