DeAndre Haynes drives to the hoop last night at the M.A.C Center against IPFW. Haynes led the Flashes with 17 points. Kent State won 86-61.

Credit: Jason Hall

Before last night, the last time senior forward Nate Gerwig saw IPFW coach Dane Fife, the Flashes lost to Fife and Indiana to end the Flashes’ NCAA Tournament hopes.

But last night, Fife, who was a player with Indiana in 2002, was coaching IPFW.

“It’s strange because he’s just so young (26-years-old),” Gerwig said, “usually you see older guys coaching.”

With Fife staying on the bench this time, the Flashes (5-2) beat IPFW (2-6) 86-61 last night.

The Flashes, who won their fourth straight game, started slow but came on strong.

Senior guard DeAndre Haynes was the leading scorer for the Flashes with 17 points. Haynes sunk 5-of-10 field goals and 5-of-7 3-pointers.

The Flashes had one of their highest shooting percentages of the season, shooting 56.6 percent.

“I just wanted to get good shots,” Kent State coach Jim Christian said. “We’ve been talking a lot about our shot selection and the shots that we take. In the first half we shot 64 percent because we took good shots and made the extra pass.”

Aside from the shooting, Christian also praised the defense, which held the Mastodons to 38.5 percent.

“I was really impressed with our defense today,” Christian said. “I worry about two things: are we playing hard and are we getting stops when we need to.”

Gerwig had 16 points while forward Kevin Warzynski added 11.

The bench had a good night too.

The most notable bench player was sophomore forward Mike Scott. Scott was the third highest scorer for the Flashes with 12 points.

“We ask Mike (Scott) to do a lot of things,” Christian said. “He’s the only guy on the team who can play two positions. He has to play some 4 and he has to play some 3. That means he has to guard some stronger guys. He’s improved. He’s stepped up and improved.”

Haynes added that the bench is a vital part of the team’s strategy.

“Those guys can win games for us,” Haynes said. “They just give us a lot of defense, a lot of energy. Without these guys, we wouldn’t be winning games. I feel good about our team. If everybody buys into what we’re trying to do, we’re going to do good.”

Contact assistant sports editor Kali Price at [email protected].