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MAC Tourney Quarterfinals Recap - Kent vs. Buffalo

Live from press row in Quicken Loans Arena at the MAC Tournament in Cleveland, VanDelay Sports brings you our game recaps.

#1 Kent 76, #8 Buffalo 67

For our recap of the games we're taking a look at the keys to victory that we identified in our game previews and providing a quick analysis of how each team delivered on those goals.

KSU keys to victory:

Ratchet up the defense
Don’t let Cage and Idbihi kill you
Play your game offensively

UB Keys to Victory

Find open shots early
Get the ball out of the hands of Haynes
Don’t let Gerwig, Scott, and Warzynski out-muscle you on the glass

Buffalo certainly kept this game close late, but they just couldn't stick with Kent State down the stretch. Witherspoon did a great job with his defensive scheme on Haynes and Youngblood, but in the end it wasn't quite enough. Kent State was tough on the glass, largely thanks to Mike Scott and Armon Gates who stepped up to torch the Bulls defense for 19 points.

The trio of Idbihi, Cage, and Middleton managed to go for 16,15, and 15 points respectively, but the Buffalo lack of rebounding led to less shots for the Bulls, who are at their best when they maximize their possessions. Some key stats from this game:

DeAndre Haynes: Shooting - 3/14, 10 points
Rebounds: KSU/UB - 36/28
3 point shooting: KSU/UB - 7-19/6-22

Final Thoughts
Kent State survived off-nights by two of their big seniors, DeAndre Haynes and Jay Youngblood, largely due to their work on defense. Calvin Cage wasn't a whole lot better scoring 15, but only shot 31% and was 1 of 9 from 3-pt range. Armon Gates saved the Golden Flashes tonight, nailing 6 of 7 from 3 point range, most of which were very timely.

Kent State survived, largely thanks to the timely shooting of Gates and the board work of the rest of the team (led by Mike Scott).

By Dan Whitmyer, VanDelaySports.com Head Basketball Writer

published 03.09.06

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What are they putting in the water at Kent State?