Posted on by jeffrey9910

After beating fellow #1 seeded Stanford, Kent State might have thought #7 seeded Middle Tennessee would be an easy win, even though the Blue Raiders picked up the 72-67 win back on November 24th. The Blue Raiders took a 1-point 32-31 lead to the locker room before Kent State outscored Middle Tennessee 38-30 in the second half to pick up the 69-62 win in the NIT Championship Game.

Senior small forward Tom Moss scored nine points to lead the Golden Flashes in the first half. Moss went 4-of-8 from the field and 1-of-1 from beyond the arc, while grabbing five rebounds. Starting senior center Adam Robinson chipped in seven points while sophomore center Jack Brown added six off the bench.

Senior center Todd Deren led the way for Middle Tennessee, scoring 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting while going a perfect 5-of-5 from the free throw line. Freshman small forward Rowan Willis added eight points on 3-of-8 shooting.

Middle Tennessee ended the game shooting just 35% from the field and 20% from beyond the arc. Compared to Kent State shooting 50% from the field and 36% from beyond the arc. Brown would end the game leading all Kent State scorers with 18 points and seven rebounds off the bench while registering three blocks. Tom Moss added five points in the second half to finish the game with 14 points in his 29 minutes, while also grabbing eight rebounds. Senior guard Kurtis McCrary added 12 points.

Middle Tennessee was led by senior center Todd Deren, scoring 26 points with four rebounds. Deren was 9-of-15 from the field and 8-of-10 from the free throw line. Senior forward Jerry Lay added 11 points with three rebounds and freshman forward Rowan Willis added 10 on 4-of-13 shooting.

In NCAA Final Four news:

  • The two #1 seeds of Kentucky and Gonzaga metup and the Wildcats picked up the 81-69 win to advance to the championship game.
  • #2-seeded Virginia picked up the 67-59 win over #3-seeded Xavier.
  • #1 seeded Kentucky Wildcats are the National Champions as they picked up the 76-64 win. The Wildcats finished the season 39-1.