Recordpub.com - Vocal Singletary leads Flashes men's basketball team to win in opener

By David Carducci

Record-Courier staff writer

Chris Singletary and Rod Sherman led an explosion of 13 straight points out of the second-half gate to help Kent State escape with a 69-66 win over Samford on Friday in what was an otherwise sloppy opener on Friday night at the M.A.C. Center.

After watching Samford score the opening nine points of the game and take a 34-31 lead into the break, the Golden Flashes turned to their defense to spark the 13-0 run over the half’s first 7:40. The duo of Singletary and Sherman combined for three steals and seven points during the deciding spurt.

Singletary ended up with team highs in points (19), rebounds (7), assists (4) and steals (3) in the first game of his final college season, but the senior may have offered up his best work at halftime.

With head coach Geno Ford handing over center stage for the first few minutes of the break, Singletary took his place with former stars like Trevor Huffman, Andrew Mitchell, Antonio Gates, DeAndre Haynes, Haminn Quaintance and Mike Scott as the next in a long line of senior leaders.

“In the locker room, we all just kind of looked at each other for a minute,” said Sherman. “Chris did a great job leading us, telling us ‘that 20 minutes is over’ ... ‘let’s get it on defense and let offense take care of itself.”

The Flashes had to do it with defense. Shooting a miserable 52 percent from the foul line (14-for-27) and making just three of the 21 shots they fired from behind the 3-point arc meant they weren’t going to get the job done on offense.

Rebounding also played a big part in KSU’s turnaround. After getting out-rebounded 18-16 in the first half by one of last year’s worst rebounding teams in the nation, the Flashes took over under the boards in the final 20 minutes. They finished with a 41-31 advantage and our-scored the Bulldogs 26-4 on second-chance points.

“Coach told us they are not a team that tries to get out on transition, so we’ve been working on four guys crashing to the glass,” said Singletary, who led the Flashes with four offensive boards. “When you practice it for a week straight, you just get used to it. So, when the ball was weak side, I would go strong side and look for the rebound.”

Singletary’s rebound and put-back on the first possession of the second half got the ball rolling on the KSU run.

“We had no answer for him,” said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. “He’s a good player. He is a strong kid, and obviously a tough kid.”

After struggling from the foul line all through last season, Singletary was also a knock-down foul shooter. On a night when none of his teammates could hit a free throw, he was 9-for-10 from the stripe.

Tyree Evans and Justin Greene joined Singletary as double-digit scorers, adding 11 points each, while Sherman scored nine points to go with four rebounds and two assists.

Senior center Brandon Parks provided a big lift off the bench with six points and seven rebounds in 18 minutes.

“It’s always a relief to get out of the opener (with a win),” said Ford. “We went to Detroit a couple of years ago, shot it bad and lost. These games are not easy. I don’t care what you tell them, I don’t care if they are seniors or if they’ve been here for five years, guys are still nervous their first game.”

Playing Samford and its often picture-perfect execution in both its rare Princeton offense and its frustrating match-up zone added to the difficulties of KSU’s opening night.

Led by Andy King (14 points), Trey Montgomery (11 points) and Bryan Friday (10 points), the Bulldogs shot a tidy 53 percent from the field. They were brilliant at the start of the game, and almost as good late in the second half as they drilled a series of 3-pointers to cut a 16-point KSU lead down to just three.

Had they not matched KSU’s struggles from the foul line — the same 52 percent on 10-for-19 shooting — the outcome could have been very different.

“I’m thrilled to death we won,” said Ford. “I thought this was going to be a brutal game. It was exactly what we thought it would be. We were lucky to get the nice run in the second half to push it open. We are going to need to play better (Saturday).”

The Flashes take on the University of Alabama-Birmingham tonight in their second game of the season-opening Hispanic College Fund Classic. UAB won its opener 68-56 over Wisconsin-Green Bay, using its own second-half spurt to pull away after going into the half trailing 30-28.

“They are a very, very good team,” said Ford. “They are big, they are athletic, they can score inside, they can make jump shots. We are going to have to shoot the ball better and play better. But I’m sure Samford, UAB and Green Bay will all play better in game two. That’s what happens.”

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David Carducci can be contacted at dcarducci@recordpub.com