Haminn Quaintance scored 16 points and Kent State crowned a dominant conference season by beating bitter rival Akron 74-55 in the Mid-American tournament championship Saturday night to reserve a slot in the NCAA brackets.
With their fifth tourney title and second in three years, the Golden Flashes left little doubt about their place in the MAC. They won the league's East title and had the player of the year, the top coach and its best defensive player, Quaintance, who showed he can do it at the other end, too, and was chosen tournament MVP.
Win or lose, Kent State may have already been a lock for the NCAA tournament. But the Golden Flashes gave the selection committee nothing to do but find them a place to play.
Mike Scott scored 14 points with 13 rebounds, Chris Singletary scored 13 and Al Fisher 12 for Kent State.
When the final horn sounded, Fisher, the MAC's player of the year, did a backflip in front of Kent's bench as Golden Flash fans flipped out.
Akron's NCAA dreams fizzled again. The Zips were beaten by Miami of Ohio on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer in last year's final, and were hoping to erase that painful memory by making the NCAA field for the first time since 1986.
But an extended scoring drought at the end of the first half put Akron in a hole the Zips could never escape.
Senior Jeremiah Wood scored 13 points but made just five of 14 free throws for Akron, which will have to settle for an NIT bid. The Zips were only 18-of-33 from the line.
Kent State closed the first half with a 16-1 run to take a 33-20 lead. Last week at Akron, the Golden Flashes held a 17-point halftime lead before the Zips stormed back. There would be no such comeback this time as Kent State closed it out with authority.
Akron did cut it to 51-41 with 8:20 left on a basket by Nate Linhart. But Scott scored on a baseline jumper and was intentionally fouled after a steal. He made both free throws, and Kent State got to keep the ball. Singletary then converted a three-point play, but was flattened after making the free throw by Linhart, who backed into the unsuspecting Kent State guard.
Singletary went down in a heap and an angry Kent State coach Jim Christian said something to Linhart as he walked onto the floor.
There has always been bad blood between the schools, which are separated by 15 miles of scenic Route 59. Earlier this season, the teams traded shoves at the end of a game at Kent.
About the time Cavaliers megastar LeBron James, the Rubber City's most famous native son arrived to cheer for Akron, the Zips took on their nickname.
They went without a field goal over the final 7:46 of the first half, missing their final nine shots and three straight free throws in a drought they couldn't afford.
Down by one point, Fisher converted a three-point play and then dropped a long 3-pointer to give Kent State a 23-19. The mini spurt seemed short-lived when Quaintance picked up his second personal foul and had to go to the bench with 6:40 left.
But Julian Sullinger scored inside, and Rashad Woods sandwiched a pair of 3-pointers around a bucket by seldom-used Isaac Knight for Kent State. Akron's Cedric Middleton rushed up the floor and tried to score on Akron's final possession, but his layup came after the horn and was waved off.
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