Kent State No Flash in the Pan

Stan Heath is Kent State’s basketball coach, not a fortune teller.

But if his hunch about the team is right, the Mid-American Conference champions aren’t anywhere near finished with their surprising run in the NCAA tournament.

The 10th-seeded Golden Flashes ousted second-seeded Alabama, 71-58, Saturday in the second round of the South Regional, extending the nation’s longest winning streak to 20.

“We’re in uncharted waters right now,” Heath said. “But I like to read eyes in the locker room, and I wasn’t looking at a bunch of guys who were saying: ‘Hey, our season is over. We’ve accomplished what we want to accomplish.’

“I saw some eyes of players that said we’re doing some special things. That’s the attitude of my players, and I’m certainly not satisfied right now as a coach.”

Kent State (29-5) advanced to a regional semifinal for the first time. The Golden Flashes beat seventh-seeded Oklahoma State in the first round.

“They are not here by fluke,” Alabama Coach Mark Gottfried said. “[Oklahoma State’s] Eddie Sutton would agree with me, and probably a whole lot of other coaches too.”

Trevor Huffman scored 20 points, and Antonio Gates had 18 to pace the Golden Flashes, who built a 12-point halftime lead before pulling away in the first 10 minutes of the second half.

Alabama (27-8), the Southeastern Conference regular-season champion, became the highest-seeded school to exit the tournament. The Crimson Tide also struggled in a first-round victory over Florida Atlantic and shot only 38% in Saturday’s loss.

Rod Grizzard led Alabama with 17 points, but most came after Kent State had built a comfortable lead. SEC player of the year Erwin Dudley had 12 points and 10 rebounds, but freshman star Mo Williams was limited to 12 points after scoring a career-high 33 in the first round.

Kent State was 4-4 at one point this season, but has won 25 of its last 26 games--the lone setback being a one-point loss at Buffalo on Jan. 9.

The Golden Flashes are the first MAC team to advance to the final 16 since Wally Szczerbiak led Miami of Ohio in 1999. Last year, Kent State upset Indiana in the first round, but was routed by Cincinnati in the second.