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Kent State started the game shooting the ball lukewarm, which was good enough to build a 21 point lead against the Vikings. At one point, the Vikings were 1 for 16 from the floor in the first half.
CSU kept the game kinda close though, and were only down 34-21 at the half. For how awful they shot, 5-23, that wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been. The Golden Flashes also dominated the boards, 27-15, 11 of which were on the offensive end. Freshman Mitch Peterson led all scorers with 12. Not a bad first half in his first game. Jimmy Hall led all players with 9 rebounds, but was quiet on the offensive end, only scoring 4 points.
CSU had 3 players that scored 5 in the first half, Kasheem Thomas, Bobby Word and Jamarcus Hairston.
For most of the first 10 minutes of the second half, it was the Jimmy Hall show. Kent would throw the ball into him, and he would put the shot up over 2 or 3 defenders, usually making it.
Then the game got really exciting, really fast. Cleveland State went on a run to pull it within 5. It went from the Jimmy Hall show to the Rob Edwards show. He scored all 9 of CSU’s points in a run that put CSU down by only 5. After that, it became the Bobby Word show. He scored 9 in the second half, and hit a 25 foot three pointer to give Cleveland State their first lead.
Up by three, late, Hall missed a 5 foot turn-around that did everything but drop. CSU rushed down the floor and Jamarcus Hairston hit a three in the corner to send it to overtime.
In overtime, Deon Edwin took over for Kent State, scoring 9 of his 12 points. Bobby Word hit another big 3 with 37 seconds to make is a one possession game, but Kent State hit enough free throws after CSU decided to play the foul game, and the game ended 79-74.
Jimmy Hall had a monster night. 19 points, 18 rebounds and 4 assists. Mitch Peterson finished with 17 points and 6 rebounds, and hit a couple of free throws to clinch the game.
On the Cleveland State side, Bobby Word scored 17 and Kasheem Thomas added another 13 and 9 rebounds. Jamarcus Hairston came off the bench to score 13, including the big 3 to send it into overtime.