MAC Basketball Tournament - #1 Kent State vs #5 Miami
VanDelay Sports is sitting on press row for the MAC Basketball Tournament this week, and we’re running live diaries during the games. We’ll be updating this at most of the media time outs. Hopefully this will be somewhat entertaining and informative for those who care.
Posted this earlier, but seems pertinent before this game… ESPN is calling Kent State a lock for the NCAA Tournament. I’ve gotta agree they’ve got a great profile and they looked awesome against the Toledo Rockets last night.
Pregame - If this was Kent State versus Ohio I’d be calling for a 20 point blowout by the Golden Flashes, but against Miami… I don’t know. Teams typically don’t blowout the RedHawks due to their style of slowing it down, and it’s hard to count out a team on a mission like Miami as they’ve been dedicating their play in this tournament to Coach Coles who underwent a heart procedure earlier this week. Bramos especially has been fantastic in the first two games of this tournament, and Miami has been getting some great contributions from Tyler Dierkers who went off for an unexpected 11 points and 13 rebounds last night against the Bobcats. Miami needs a similar performance tonight as Quaintance and Scott are a handful for anyone to handle in the front-court.
Kent fans are out in droves tonight. If you’re a MAC fan do you root for Kent to lose to Miami tonight so the MAC can get two bids? I think you root for Kent to win so they definitely have an at-large in their grasps, but it’d be realllllly nice to see the MAC get 2 bids for the first time since 1999.
Wally World sighting. He’s sitting in the first row across the court from the Miami bench rooting on his alma mater.
15:12 - Defensive struggle early, tied at 4.
10:30 - Kent up 12-9. It’s Tyler Dierkers so far for Miami. He’s all over the boards and already has 5 points.
7:34 - 14-13 Kent lead. More Dierkers, he’s all over the boards with 8 of them already and he hits another stick back for 7 total points. Chris Singletary with a mean block on a layup attempt last segment too.
3:45 - 21-17 Kent leads. The Golden Flashes are knocking down a ton of crazy shots tonight. Spinning runners, open 3 after open 3. I won’t have shooting percentages until halftime, but I’ve got to imagine that the Flashes are shooting at a pretty good clip right now, it’ll be interesting to see what happens if they cool down.
1:38 - Miami ties it at 21. They’re just out working Kent right now.
Halftime - 25-23 Kent leads. Great half of basketball. Kent shooting 45% Miami shooting 42%. They’re getting their points in different ways. Kent is 3-7 on 3-pointers, Miami is 0-4. Miami leads points in the paint 22-12. Tyler Dierkers has been huge for the RedHawks with 11 points and 9 boards. The Kent State attack has been spread out. Nobody has more than 6 points or 3 rebounds for the Flashes. I’m waiting for Scott, Q, Fisher, Bramos, or Pollitz to really step up in the 2nd half. If somebody wants it this game is there for the taking. We’ve seen all 4 of those guys take over games in the past.
Couldn’t we have just made Western Michigan’s band stay here after the last game and let them provide the music for this one?
15:29 - 31-29, Pollitz is starting to heat up. He’ll be going to the line trying to finish off a 3-point play when we get back. If I’m Kent State I’m a little worried right now. This is what I would call a “Miami game”. Low scoring, slow paced, a lot of scratching and clawing for every loose ball on both ends. The Flashes would love to force a couple of turnovers and get out and run the break. A thunder dunk or two by Scott or Q would quickly start to turn this into a home crowd for Kent. Right now their fans are a little quiet.
11:54 - Back and forth, back and forth, Kent up 35-34. It looked like the Flashes had a chance to seperate there knocking down a 3, and forcing Miami into a bad look on offense, but a long rebound started a fast break for Miami and Kenny Hayes converted a layup. Coach Henderson going with a small lineup of Moosman, Hayes, Pollitz, Pollitz and Bramos.
9:21 - Bramos finally on the board with a tough runner and Miami goes up 38-35 as the Miami faithful erupt. Christian calls a timeout to talk things over.
7:52 - Kent goes on a little run capped off by a Mike Scott steal and an Al Fisher 3-point play. Eric Pollitz hits a tough 18 footer and we’re tied up at 40. The end of this one is gonna be fun.
6:01 - Kenny Hayes is fouled shooting a 3 but only hits 1-3 FTs. Pollitz muscles to the hoop hits the shot and gets fouled… He misses. 3 point Miami lead.
4:38 - Kent cannot convert on the contested fast break opportunities that they’re getting. Miami is having trouble converting in the halfcourt. It’s coming back to defense. 43-42 Miami lead.
4:03 - Crazy sequence with Miami and Kent players toppling over each other. Coach Henderson is very upset with the officials right now, I think for not calling a travel when the Kent player with the ball tripped over Miami players on the floor and fell to the ground with the ball. The play is currently under review. I have no idea why. Kent leads by 1.
3:44 - Tim Pollitz misses another FT (the front end of a 1 and 1) the missed free throws are really starting to hurt the RedHawks… still down 1 to Kent.
2:21 - Eric Pollitz shows his brother how it’s done. Hits both free throws. Ties it up.
0:33 - Singletary with a 4th effort stick back to go up 2. Kenny Hayes with ridiculous, great, circus layup that somehow falls to tie it back up. Someone’s getting their hearts ripped out tonight.
0:03 - MAC Player of the Year Al Fisher hits a leaning 18 footer to put Kent up 2 with only seconds left. Miami is going to need another miracle shot here like they got from Doug Penno in last year’s Championship Game.
Final - Miami throw two passes that get knocked out of bounds, getting them a little further down court each time. With 2 seconds left it inbounds to Tim Pollitz on the wing who gets all the way to the hoop but leaves his floater inches short. What a game! What an awful heartbreaking way to lose for Miami, but wow, this one was a classic.
Tags: Golden Flashes, Kent State, mac, MAC Basketball, MAC Basketball Tournament, mac tournament, Miami, redhawks
March 14th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Two of the best-coached teams in the MAC tonight - fitting that they meet with a Championship Game appearance on the line.
March 14th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Miami has Kent State right where they want them.
March 14th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Sherman’s 3 got the crowd back into the game, but Miami’s D did what they needed to do.
March 14th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
They keep announcing that Miami has the 5th-ranked dance team. 5th-ranked where and how? They’re darn good, and I assume that’s a national ranking, but a little more info would be nice.
March 14th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Hey, did you know we have the 5th ranked blog?
March 14th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Pollitz stepping it up when they need him, 3-point play FT coming up.
March 14th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Actually, if you type in “mac sports blog” on Google, we’re the 1st-ranked blog.
March 14th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
I think I’m sitting in the 5th ranked seat in the Q right now. I think Jerry Sauder has the 5th ranked haircut.
March 14th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
What do you think of the “reviews” Dan?
March 14th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
The first one I understood was a normal review like you sometimes see to see where Hayes was on the floor when he shot (if it was a 3 or a 2). I have no idea what in the world they could have been reviewing on the 2nd one unless the PA Announcer accidentally called it a review, or if there was a time discrepancy that we didn’t pick up on.
March 14th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Pollitz misses another FT… Ouch.
March 14th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
“Big Shot Al” comes through again. Is the bank open for another Miami miracle in Cleveland?
March 15th, 2008 at 4:14 am
[...] dwhit wrote a fantastic post today on “MAC Basketball Tournament - #1 Kent State vs #5 Miami”Here’s ONLY a quick extractVanDelay Sports is sitting on press row for the MAC Basketball Tournament this week, and we’re running live diaries during the games. We’ll be updating this at most of the media time outs. Hopefully this will be somewhat entertaining … [...]