Kent State men's basketball upsets top seed Toledo in opening round of MAC Tournament
CLEVELAND — The underdog Kent State men’s basketball team limited No. 1 seed Toledo to a season-low points in a 67-59 upset win in the opening round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament on Thursday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
During the regular season, the Rockets (20-12) averaged 87 points in their two games against the eighth-seeded Golden Flashes (16-16).
“We put together a game plan based upon the last game that we played them, and the execution of our players was as good as it could be,” Kent State coach Rob Senderoff said. “I’m excited to move on and get to play another 40 minutes.”
Kent State advanced to play Bowling Green at 5 p.m. Friday in the first semifinal, with the second semifinal to follow at 7:30 p.m. The Flashes defeated the Falcons 90-84 when the two teams played Jan. 23.
Flashes forward VonCameron Davis scored a career-high 26 points and grabbed a career-best 12 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.
“Just going in trying to be the more physical team,” Davis said. “Our emphasis was finishing around the basket more.
“We left a lot of points when we lost (86-71) to them last week.”
Davis’ performance set the tone for the defending MAC champions, junior guard Mike Bekelja said.
“It just gives everyone else more energy, once you see how hard he's working offensively and defensively,” he said. “So everyone wants to give their all once we see that happen.”
Bekelja who added six points and seven rebounds for Kent State, which again was without Reggie Bass and Chris Payton Jr. because of injuries.
Despite coming into the tournament as the No. 8 seed, Davis said, “To win the MAC, you have to beat the defending champions.”
“It's a whole new season once you get to Cleveland,” Bekelja said. “We knew that we had a target on our back the whole regular season. So we just decided to hunker down and do our thing here.
“We just need to get to Cleveland, and now that we're here we just want to capitalize off that opportunity.”
The Flashes took a 23-22 lead with 2:53 remaining in the first half and never trailed again.
“Playing with the lead was big for us,” Senderoff said. “I think when you're the team that's expected to win, the pressure starts to mount, and we didn't have much on us in that regard.”
Davis, junior guard Jalen Sullinger (14) and redshirt senior guard Giovanni Santiago (12) all scored in double figures for Kent State, which offset 5-of-23 shooting from deep by connecting on 60% of their attempts inside the arc.
“We did not shoot the 3 well tonight,” Senderoff said. “Maybe tomorrow it's because of the 3 that we're able to move on if we are able to win.
“We just tried to do different things and see what we can do to get a win.”
KSU outscored Toledo 42-32 in the paint and limited guard Ra’Heim Moss, the Rockets' second-leading scorer, to four points on 1-of-8 shooting.
“Our game plan was to try to shorten the game as much as possible, which I thought we did,” Senderoff said. “We couldn't let the game get into the 80s, and we knew that if the score was in the 80s we were not going to win.”
Now there are only two games between the Flashes and a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
“You have to get yourself ready,” Senderoff said. “The other team that wins is going to have an emotionally high win also.
“This is the time of the year you just try to play your best 40 minutes and put it together for the next 40.”
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Kent State men's basketball defeats No. 1 Toledo in MAC Tournament
