The Bowling Green Falcons go the way their superstar guard Keith McLeod goes. For the Golden Flashes of Kent State, shutting down the MAC Player of the Year would mean another conference championship.
Mission accomplished.
Kent State held McLeod to just four points in the second half thanks to the tenacity of MAC Defensive Player of the Year Demetric Shaw, and Tournament MVP Trevor Huffman. In the process, the Golden Flashes out-rebounded and out-scored Bowling Green in the final stanza to win their third MAC title in four years, 70-59 before a MAC record crowd of 14,106 in Cleveland's Gund Arena Saturday night.
McLeod looked un-guardable in the first half, picking up 16 points. However, he could only muster one field goal during the final 20 minutes, and was denied the ball for most of the time.
"It was a team effort. You can't guard Keith McLeod by yourself," Huffman said. "It was a great job by the big men to help us out."
"The only thing we said was, if [McLeod] is going to beat us, make him take tough shots," first year Kent State Head Coach Stan Heath said.
While the Falcons searched for another source of offense, KSU went on a 9-0 run to break the nip and tuck game open midway through the second half, taking a 46-37 lead.
Bowling Green eventually did find another offensive weapon in center Len Matela and began to creep back into the contest down the stretch. However, every time it looked as if the Falcons were going to set the stage for a dramatic finish, Huffman killed their momentum with a back-breaking jumper.
With the win, the Golden Flashes earn the MAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
It was revealed Sunday night that Bowling Green will not receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, however they may get a bid to the National Invitational Tournament. Falcons Head Coach Dan Dakich, however, feels his team deserves more credit than an NIT berth.
"The thing you have to look at that nobody will look at is, how many of these [at-large] teams played these games on the road. We had 11 wins on the road," Dakich said. "It would be interesting to see how many of these teams won 24 games, and won 11 away from their arena."
Heath agreed.
"They are so deserving to get into the NCAA Tournament," Heath said. "There aren't 30 teams that are better than Bowling Green."
Kent State, as they have had all through the tournament, featured the balanced scoring that has made them so hard to defend. Huffman led the way with 17 points, but was closely followed by teammates Antonio Gates and Andrew Mitchell, who had 16 and 13 points respectively.
McLeod wound up leading all scorers with his 20 points. However, Matela had the only double-double of the night, posting 18 points and 13 rebounds.
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The attendance figure of 14,106 was a new record for any MAC Tournament game in league history. The mark bested the previous record of 12,172, set during last year's championship game.
"The energy in the building was second to none," Heath, who participated in Big Ten Conference tournaments during his years as an assistant at Michigan State, said. "It just added so much and it was a great atmosphere for college basketball."
The men's All-Tournament Team was Huffman (also the tournament MVP), Gates, Mitchell, McLeod, and Ball State's Theron Smith.
KSU fans, who comprised most of the 14,106 that were in attendance, rushed the floor in celebration after the final buzzer sounded.
Kent State's win, coupled with the women's team's victory earlier in the day, meant that the Golden Flashes became the first program to win both the men's and women's titles in the same season in the history of the MAC.
