3-point heave upsets Flashes

Head coach Geno Ford questions the final call of a 3-point shot at the buzzer. The shot gave Green Bay the victory over the Flashes, 87-86. Rachel Kilroy | Daily Kent Stater

Credit: DKS Editors

The Kent State men’s basketball team fell on the losing end of a last-second desperation 3-pointer yesterday, dropping to Green Bay 87-86 in overtime at the M.A.C. Center.

“It was one of those unfortunate endings to a game that you hate to lose,” Kent State coach Geno Ford said. “Tonight, we deserved to lose. We did not play hard in the first half.

“They outplayed us the whole night. It was, in a sad way, kind of justice in the ending.”

Green Bay inbounded the ball with 2.7 seconds left in overtime. Kent State senior guard Tyree Evans intercepted the baseball pass, but it was knocked away.

“I thought that Tyree caught it, then was surprised when the ball squirted free,” Ford said.

Junior guard Bryquis Perine grabbed the loose ball and heaved up a shot in front of the out-of-bounds line. The shot went in the hoop, hitting nothing but net and silencing the crowd of 2,571 who thought the Flashes (2-1) were victorious.

Prior to the last-second shot, junior guard Rodriquez Sherman drove from the left side and lofted the ball off the top of the backboard and in, giving Kent State an 86-84 lead with less than three seconds left.

Kent State needed to chip away at a large Phoenix second-half lead to even get to overtime. The Flashes trailed by as many as 15 in the second half.

With less than one minute left in the second half, Perine gave Green Bay a 78-76 lead, after Evans tied the game with a heavily contested 3-pointer.

With 6.1 seconds left in regulation, Evans received the ball behind the arc, but it was knocked out of bounds.

The ball was inbounded to senior guard Chris Singletary. Singletary spun toward the hoop and put up a shot that bounced off the backboard and rattled in to tie the game at 78-78.

Singletary, who scored 12 points for the Flashes, had limited playing time for the second straight game because of foul trouble, with only 27 minutes in the game.

“It’s always frustrating when you pick up early fouls, (and) it’s kind of hard to get back into a rhythm,” Singletary said. “Once again, that’s something I can control, and that’s something that I’m going to need to control. It only hurts me and my team.”

In the first half, Green Bay led by 10 points less than six minutes into the game.

Kent State’s first lead came in the first minute when Evans sunk a 3 to give the Flashes an early 3-2 lead. Kent State wasn’t able to top Green Bay again until Evans hit a deep, contested 2-point jump shot with six minutes left in the half, giving Kent State a 35-33 lead.

The Flashes failed to maintain the lead as the Phoenix offense quickly fired back. Green Bay kept the lead and, with the help of a buzzer-beating jump shot, went into halftime ahead, 45-36.

Sophomore forward Justin Greene led the Flashes with a career-high 20 points and six rebounds. Three other Kent State players scored double-digit points: Evans (19), Singletary and Sherman (18).

This game marked Kent State’s first loss in the Hispanic College Fund Classic.

Previously the Flashes beat Samford, 69-66, and University of Alabama at Birmingham, 72-65.

Contact sports reporter Cody Erbacher at

Box Score: Friday

Kent State 69, Samford 66

KENT STATE

(Player FG-FGA FT-FTA TP) Singletary 5-12 9-10 19, Greene 5-7 1-3 11, Evans 4-12 2-4 11, Sherman 4-10 0-4 9, Parks 2-3 2-3 6, McKee 2-7 0-2 5, Simpson 2-5 0-1 4, Holt 2-6 0-0 4, Henry-Ala 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-63 14-27 69

SAMFORD

King 4-9 4-5 14, Montgomery 3-6 5-10 11, B. Friday 5-8 0-0 10, Davis 3-6 0-1 8, Bedwell 3-5 0-1 8, Peterson 2-4 0-0 6, Johnson 2-2 0-0 5, Merritt 1-2 1-2 4, M. Friday 0-1 0-0 0, Wooten 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-43 10-19 66

Box Score: Saturday

Kent State 72, UAB 65

KENT STATE

(Player FG-FGA FT-FTA TP) McKee 4-8 7-9 19, Sherman 7-9 3-5 17, Evans 3-11 2-2 10, Henry-Ala 3-4 2-2 9, Simpson 2-6 1-2 5, Greene 2-2 1-2 5, Holt 2-7 0-0 5, Singletary 1-2 0-0 2, Pinckney 0-0 0-0 0, Parks 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-49 16-22 72

UAB

Millsap 6-16 5-6 18, Crawford 6-15 5-7 17, Sanders 3-7 1-1 8, Drake 2-5 3-3 7, Moore 2-3 1-2 5, Johnson 2-6 0-2 5, Cooper 1-4 3-3 5, Fields 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-56 18-24 65

Box Score: Sunday

Green Bay 87, Kent State 86 (OT)

GREEN BAY (2-1)

(Player FG-FGA FT-FTA TP) Cotton 9-15 1-1 25, Perine 8-16 2-3 20, Fletcher 8-14 1-4 17, Smith 2-3 1-2 6, Barkley 1-4, 4-4 6, Berry 2-6 0-0 4, Nelson 2-2 0-0 4, Evans 1-1 0-0 3, LeSage 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 33-61 11-16 87

KENT STATE (2-1)

Greene 7-11 6-9 20, Evans 6-11 2-2 19, Sherman 8-19 2-3 18, Singletary 4-9 3-3 12, Henry-Ala 1-3 3-4 5, Holt 1-3 2-2 4, Parks 2-4 0-0 4, McKee 1-7 0-0 3, Pinckney 0-2 1-2 1, Simpson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 30-70 19-25 86.