Through tough defense, the Kent State men’s basketball team held each of its three opponents under 40% shooting, taking home two wins in the Western Slam tournament held in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
The Western Slam invitational involved the Flashes and three other schools: Towson University, Kennesaw State University and University of California, Irvine.
Each team played each other once in the three nights they were there.
KSU defeated Towson 65-54 in night one, lost to UC Irvine 51-39 in night two and beat Kennesaw State 67-60 the final night.
“We played with incredible competitive toughness in all three games. We did not shoot the ball very well out here, but we were able to win two out of the three games against three excellent teams,” coach Rob Senderoff said. “I thought we did that because we took care of the basketball, and had great contributions from everyone that stepped on the court. We offensive rebounded at a really high level and competed at a really high level.”
Against Towson, senior forward VonCameron Davis led the way with 18 points on an efficient 8-13 shooting. Graduate student guard Morgan Safford and graduate student forward Anthony Morales each were in double figures with 11 points.
After taking the lead with 14 minutes left in the first half, KSU did not look back, leading the rest of the way.
“We’re really showing that we have competitive toughness, and if we can continue to build on that, we have a chance to have a really good year,” Senderoff said.
In game two against UC Irvine, Safford did not play, and Senderoff inserted junior forward Delrecco Gillespie in the starting lineup.
He ended up leading the scoring that night with nine points while also pulling down five rebounds.
“He played with incredible competitive spirit all three nights,” Senderoff said. “He started the second game Morgan didn’t play in and ran the floor, competed on the glass, rebounded and he took a real positive step in his development as a player this weekend.”
The next night against Kennesaw State, Gillespie had four field goals and seven rebounds.
“I’m really proud of how he responded and how he’s improving,” Senderoff said. “He’s not the only one, but he’s one of the guys I can point to and say that he really played well.”
Gillespie is averaging 5.6 points and 4.3 rebounds per game this season.
In the win against Kennesaw State, Davis led the way with 16 points, and Safford, senior guard Jalen Sullinger and senior guard Marquis Barnett each had 13 points.
All season Kent State has gotten big contributions from their bench, and that stood out in the final game when 34 of their 67 points came from the bench.
“I don’t really look at it as a bench, we just play 10 or 11 guys, and everyone who steps on the court plays like a starter,” Senderoff said. “There’s not much difference, if any, and that’s how I want us to continue to play and compete.”
In all three games, KSU made its mark on defense, having more steals than their opponents.
“In the last game [sophomore guard Jamal Sumlin] defensively was awesome, so he was in all defensive substitutions. There are other games where [graduate student guard Mike Bekelja] is in all defensive substitutions, but this last game, Jamal was so good defensively he was in all defense substitutions,” Senderoff said.
After the three games, Kent State is 6-2, Towson is 4-5, UC Irvine is 8-0 and Kennesaw State is 6-3.
“In the two wins, the games got really tight, and we found a way to win close games on a neutral site,” Senderoff said. “When you’re playing in conference tournament games, being able to do that is incredibly beneficial and a great experience to help in league play and conference tournament play.”
Back to the M.A.C. Center
The Flashes’ 6-2 start has them in first place in the Mid-American Conference standings among 12 teams.
They will look to improve that record against the Portland University Pilots Friday at 7 p.m. at the M.A.C. Center. Portland is 3-5 on the season.
KSU will look to work its shooting going into the game against the Pilots. It shot a combined 21.4% from three in the last three games, but it knows they can win in other areas.
“I’m hopeful that we learned from the Niagara game – if we don’t guard, we can lose to anyone – since that game, we’ve done a great job on the defensive side of the floor, and that’s allowed us to win regardless of if we shoot the ball well or not,” Senderoff said.
The first-place Flashes are eager to get home and try to continue their winning ways.
“We have really good shooters and really good finishers, and we’ll get in the gym and we’ll shoot and we’ll finish and we have a chance on Friday to play a team from the West Coast Conference, one of the top ten leagues in the country at home,” Senderoff said. “Hopefully, we’ll have a great crowd to see a 6-2 team play at home for the last time this semester.”
Andrew Gold is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].
