Flashes win with dunk from Sherman.

It only took 4.7 seconds for Rodriquez Sherman to change the outcome of the Kent State men’s basketball game against Western Michigan.

With the Flashes trailing the Broncos by two points with 7.1 seconds left in regulation, senior guard Chris Singletary inbounded the ball to Sherman.

The junior guard sprinted up the right side of the court, weaved past two defenders and drove toward the hoop to dunk the ball, tying the game at 73. Sherman was fouled on the play and sank his free throw to give the Flashes the lead with 2.4 seconds remaining.

“I said, ‘If I go to the basket, I got to dunk it because he might block it,’” Sherman said. “When I seen that I got past the guard and when I see just a little bit of lane, my eyes get real big. So they got big, and I was like, ‘I’ve got to dunk it.’ I still can’t believe it.”

Following Sherman’s dunk, Singletary ran to calm his teammate, as Kent State needed to convert the rest of the three-point play to take the lead.

“I wanted to show emotion, too,” Singletary said. “(Sherman) gathered himself and he went to the line and was real professional about it and made the free throw to get us the win.”

 

Western Michigan (11-9, 3-4 Mid-American Conference) wouldn’t give up though, and the Flashes knew it. Following a timeout, the Broncos’ game plan was to get the ball to senior guard David Kool, who scored a game-high 38 points — including a successful off-balanced shot with 7.1 seconds left to put them ahead.

But senior guard Frank Henry-Ala prevented Kool from making a play in the game’s final seconds.

“I saw our best defender stepping up to the challenge,” Singletary said about Henry-Ala. “In the crunch time when we needed a stop, Frank got the stop.”

The Broncos had an opportunity to win with a last-second 3-point attempt by senior guard Martelle McLemore. McLemore was left unguarded when Singletary rushed to recover the inbound pass, which was tipped near the Broncos’ arc.

“I’m telling everybody not to leave your man … then I do it,” he said. “Then the ball gets tipped to my man, and I’m like, ‘No way.’”

The Flashes (14-7, 5-2) sealed the win when McLemore’s shot bounced off the backboard.

Although Sherman’s late-game heroics put Kent State ahead in the end, the Flashes would not have been in a position of victory without Singletary.

Going into halftime, Kent State led 35-29. Singletary scored 21 of his team-high 24 points in the second half to keep the score close.

“Chris kept us in it, we were struggling,” Kent State coach Geno Ford said. “Had it not been for him carrying us offensively during that stretch, we would have been down 10 or 12 and now its over. He was big for us today throughout the whole game.”

The Flashes look to continue their four-game winning streak tonight at home against Northern Illinois.

Contact sports reporter Cody Erbacher at [email protected].