Feb. 17, 2010

Box Score

KENT, Ohio-Kent State's Justin Greene and Chris Singletary each recorded double-doubles as the Golden Flashes held off Ohio 74-67 Wednesday evening at the M.A.C. Center. The Golden Flashes improved to 19-8 overall and 10-3 in the Mid-American Conference, while Ohio dropped to 14-13 and 5-8 in the league.

Greene had 15 points and 11 rebounds to go with Singletary's 17 points, 10 boards and five assists.

Ohio was led by D.J. Cooper's double-double effort of 23 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. He never came off the floor for the Bobcats. Armon Bassett added 20 points, while Tommy Freeman had 11 and Kenneth van Kempen notched 10. Both van Kempen and Reggie Keely posted nine boards apiece.

"I thought our defensive effort tonight was tremendous," said Ohio head coach John Groce. "D.J. Cooper was terrific. I thought he did a great job driving the ball late and putting pressure on their defense, while making good decisions throughout the night. This was our sixth game in 14 days and, considering an opponent of this quality, I was pleased with the intensity."

The first half was exceptionally close with Kent State's five-point lead (34-29) at the 1:32 mark of the first half being the largest lead for either squad.

The Bobcats came out gunning in the second half and took an eight-point lead (52-44) on a Cooper 3-pointer off an Asown Sayles assist with 11:53 to go. Ohio was able to keep the Flashes at bay until Mike McKee's 3-pointer off a Singletary assist gave the hosts a two-point lead (61-59) with 3:56 left. The Bobcats evened the score but fell behind for good when Tyree Evans laid in a Sherman Rodriguez feed with 2:38 to go. KSU hit six of seven free throws down the stretch to put the game away.

The Bobcats did a nice job from the 3-point arc, hitting 10 of 22 attempts for 45.5 percent. Both teams shot 36.7 percent (22-60) from the field. KSU won the rebounding battle 46-38.

Ohio will host Wright State Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Convo in the annual BracketBusters matchup.