CLEVELAND— Giovanni Santiago is making the most of each second, each possession and each game.
The redshirt senior guard's Kent State basketball career could end any day now. It also could end at a place where Santiago's on-court impact wasn't felt last year — the NCAA Tournament.
Santiago is a big reason why the Golden Flashes are a win away from completing an improbable Mid-American Conference Tournament run. He hit six 3s to tie a career high and finished with 20 points in eighth-seeded Kent State's 73-60 semifinal win over No. 5 Bowling Green on Friday.
The Flashes have called Santiago their "inspirational leader." He played through a knee injury last season that was going to eventually require surgery. However, a hand injury suffered against rival Akron forced the Bayamon, Puerto Rico, native to miss Kent State's final 12 games.
There was no MAC Tournament or NCAA Tournament for Santiago.
"It's never the same when you're not playing," Santiago said. "I'm just happy to be back and able to contribute this year, knowing this is my last year with Kent State. I want to do whatever I can to help us win."
Santiago did his part in Thursday's quarterfinal upset of No. 1 seed Toledo with three 3s and 12 points. In the win over Bowling Green, he raised his game a few more notches while playing all 40 minutes for the second straight day.
"The only thing I said to him is in your last chance, you gotta go out firing," Flashes coach Rob Senderoff said. "If he goes 1-for-8 [shooting], we don't win tonight, maybe. I'd rather him go 1 for 8 than 0 for 2.
"I'm glad he has played the way he is capable of playing for himself and obviously for our team. He's had two really, really good games for us here."
When the Flashes face Akron in Saturday's championship game, Senderoff's message to Santiago will remain the same.
"Same mentality," Senderoff said. "Go out swinging."
The backcourt of Santiago and Jalen Sullinger was a relentless force against Bowling Green. After missing all seven attempts from behind the arc against Toledo, Sullinger hit 5 of 7 3s to bury Bowling Green. He finished with a team-high 22 points.
Bowling Green's zone was designed to neutralize forward VonCameron Davis, who erupted for 26 points against Toledo. Santiago and Sullinger fed off that in the backcourt against the Rockets' rival.
"Early on, when they went to zone, we started to get more open shots," Santiago said. "We knew they were going to be worried about Von, who had a monster game (Thursday). ... Us as shooters and guards, we just had to be ready to shoot."
Santiago is helping the Flashes write a story few saw coming. At 15-16 coming into Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, they were not expected to last beyond the first day.
Now the Flashes are one win away from defending the MAC Tournament championship and giving Santiago an opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament.
"We prepared for March," Santiago said. "That's all we got.
"We had a couple of injuries and we struggled during the year. We knew if we could make it here, all you gotta do is win three."
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This article originally appeared on The Repository: Giovanni Santiago helps key Kent State men's basketball's MAC run
