No. 2 Kent State built a sizable lead and then had just enough to hold off No. 3 Akron for a 79-73 win in a Mid-American Conference Tournament semifinal Friday night at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
KSU advanced to Saturday night's MAC Tournament title game to face top seed Toledo.
The Golden Flashes also beat the Zips last week in the regular season finale for both teams. In that game, too, KSU built a comfortable lead late in the second half, only to have Zips mount a furious comeback. On March 3 in Kent, the Zips were able to force overtime, though the Flashes eventually prevailed.
Friday night in Cleveland, the Zips twice cut a 15-point deficit down to four points (once in each half). The second instance was with 1:20 left, but a missed deep 3-pointer from Xavier Castaneda ended those comeback hopes.
"Sometimes when we play each other, it's like a war of attrition," Kent State coach Rob Senderoff told reporters in Cleveland. "I give them credit for battling back. ... That's a championship program and a championship team. They weren't going to just go away quietly."
Kent State forward Miryne Thomas scored a team-high 24 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the floor, including a perfect 10 of 10 from the free-throw line. Guard Sincere Carry finished with 21 points and Malique Jacobs contributed 14 points and four steals.
For the Zips, forward Enrique Freeman scored 26 points and brought down 18 rebounds, both game highs. Castaneda finished with 21 points.
"I want to give a lot of credit to Kent," said Akron coach John Croce. "I thought the difference in the game for us was — when you're minus-24 in points off turnovers and minus-8 in second chance points, and that's a 32-point difference, I bet nine out of 10 times, that is a blowout. ... The grit and resolve this group showed I thought was amazing."
Kent State now leads the all-time series with Akron 83-81. But that isn't everything for Thomas, who was asked what the win over Akron meant, now that the Golden Flashes have reached the MAC title game.
"Nothing right now — I want a ring," Thomas said. "[Everybody] come out tomorrow. It's gonna be a movie."
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Kent State tops Akron to advance to 2023 MAC Tournament final
