Eastern Michigan Eagles vs. Kent State Golden Flashes men's basketball recap: Big day from Spicer, Flashes win 73-58

What was a close game for a while turned into a blowout. Kent State (15-5, 6-1) gets enough from their star players at home, beating Eastern Michigan (10-10, 2-5) 73-58.

The Eagles got off to a hot start in the first half, reaching a 17-4 lead when Raven Lee subbed into the game and hit a pair of jumpers. Flashes kept battling back and only trailed by one point at the half, then fouls did the Eagles in during the second half.

Though he ended the game with a double-double, James Thompson fouled out after putting up 14 points and 10 rebounds. Ty Toney also fouled out of the game, which is really uncharacteristic of him.

Khaliq Spicer was about as dominant on both ends of the floor as Kent State fans could have hoped for. The Flashes had good ball movement to feed him, getting a team-high 21 points (9-for-12) while also grabbing 13 rebounds and had five blocks.

Rough shooting night for Jimmy Hall, who also got into foul trouble (4), but he still ended with 13 points. Xavier Pollard is usually a name heard for the Flashes to make shots behind the arc, but was limited to four points. Still, Pollard was able to be an effective player with seven assists.

Off the bench, Raven Lee put up 15 points and four steals, but it was Willie Mangum who kept the game close in the second half hitting a few much-needed 3-point shots.

As a team, Kent State shot 43 percent from the field when EMU was a hair under 30, also out-rebounded the Eagles by 12. EMU had the lead longer than Kent State did, but the Flashes took the lead with under 15 minutes to go in the game and never lost is from there. They only continued to finish it out strong, and with a 15-point win.