After a tough 69-78 home loss to the Buffalo Bulls Saturday afternoon, the Kent State men’s basketball team will look to rebound, regroup and right the ship once again as the Flashes get set to take to the road again to face Bowling Green at the Stroh Center Wednesday.

Kent State (15-12, 6-8 MAC) and Bowling Green — both coming off losses this past Saturday — have had similar luck this season in the conference. Both teams have had their conference struggles this season, and their seasons appear to be parallel, mirror images of each other.

“[Bowling Green] could have easily had three or four more wins, as could we,” Kent State head coach Rob Senderoff said.

Kent State and Bowling will go into Wednesday’s game hoping to make one final push as this 2013-2014 basketball season comes to a close.

The Flashes began the season with an 8-2 record but have since then dropped to a record right around .500 once league play commenced in December. The Falcons (11-16, 5-9 MAC) have also hit a string of bad luck and lost a lot of close games this season.

All season long, it has seemed as though the Falcons can’t catch a break, as the team has lost five games this season by a narrow margin of three points or less.

With only three games left and the chances of either one of these teams winning the MAC’s East Division dwindling, the Flashes and Falcons will be playing with nothing to lose this week, which will make for yet another highly physical matchup between two budding rivals laying everything on the line, trying to pull out just a few more wins before the MAC Tournament, which will be held in Cleveland Monday, March 10, through Saturday, March 15.

Senderoff made note of the physicality Wednesday’s game will most likely showcase and predicted that Wednesday’s game will indeed go down to the wire.

“It’ll be a physical game that’ll probably come down to a few possessions, and we gotta make a couple more plays than them,” Senderoff said.

The last time these two MAC teams met, Kent State won in overtime 62-61 inside the M.A.C. Center in one of the team’s most dramatic games this season.

The Flashes found themselves significantly down in the first half as Bowling Green jumped out to an early 13-point lead, but Kent State battled back from behind in the second half to bring the Flashes within two with mere seconds left in regulation.

Junior guard Devareaux Manley sank the clutch, game-winning shot with a three-pointer from the corner with just 0.9 seconds remaining on the game clock.

This time around, the Falcons will be playing fired up and ready to avenge their previous loss to the Flashes.

Kent State is only one game ahead of Kent State in the MAC, so the Falcons will look use their home court advantage this Wednesday to gain some ground in the MAC before crunch time ensues.

In order to bounce back from its loss to Buffalo, Senderoff said Kent State’s front court defense has to play better than it did against Buffalo.

The front court gave up 31 points to senior forward Javon McCrea of Buffalo, so the Flashes’ front court leaders, especially sophomore forward Khaliq Spicer, will have to step up to guard Bowling Green’s imposing front court, which includes All-MAC forward Richaun Holmes and 6-foot-10 center Cameron Black, who scored 18 points against the Flashes in their contest from earlier this season.

“We’re working with [Spicer] right now, finishing plays on top of the rim right now,” Senderoff said. “In this last game he struggled to finish and was getting fouled, so he’s working and that’s all you can ask.”

This Wednesday’s rematch will tip-off at 7 p.m.

Contact Richard Mulhall at [email protected].