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Flash burns Kent State hands Hoosiers another early exit
Updated: Friday March 16, 2001 2:50 AM
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- It was business as usual for Indiana and Kent State in the NCAA tournament. The Hoosiers lost another first-round game and the Golden Flashes said it was no surprise. Kent State played spoiler with a 77-73 victory over Indiana on Thursday, sending the Hoosiers to their second straight first-round loss and fifth in seven years on the same day Bob Knight went job hunting in Texas. "Extremely disappointing to the point of being sickening," said Kirk Haston, who led the Hoosiers with 29 points. A year ago, Indiana was blown out by 20 points against Pepperdine in what turned out to be Knight's final sideline appearance in a red sweater. Knight was at Texas Tech on Thursday to interview for the head coaching job, a position he held for 29 years in Bloomington before being fired in September for violating Indiana's zero-tolerance behavior policy. His replacement, Mike Davis, also is seeking job security. Indiana officials have said they'll decide whether Davis stays after the season. "I do want this job in the worst way," Davis said. "They said they were going to wait until the season is over. It's over, so we'll see next week."
The Hoosiers (21-13) clearly want the soft-spoken Davis back, but they couldn't make a case for him by blowing a 12-point second-half lead and committing 18 turnovers. "I thought going into halftime (Indiana led 42-34) we had the game under control," Davis said. "Down the stretch we didn't capitalize on a couple of plays we should have." Making its second tournament appearance in three years, Kent State got 24 points from Trevor Huffman, including 11 of its final 15. "We had a serious mindset coming into this," Huffman said. "I don't think too many guys on our team were surprised that we beat Indiana.
"We hope we can just keep this business-like attitude going into the next game and the next game, as far as we go." The Golden Flashes (24-9), who set a school record for victories, shot 47 percent against an Indiana defense that held opponents to 39.2 percent during the regular season. "I told my coach I thought I'd feel better about this after the game, but it just feels like a regular win," said KSU forward Kyrem Massey, who added 15 points for the Mid-American Conference tournament champions. Despite what his players said, Kent State coach Gary Waters called the Flashes' win an upset. "It was a Big Ten team," he said. "You have to understand players. Sometimes they say things and they don't know what they're saying." The Hoosiers' No. 4 seed was their highest since 1993. The Flashes tied the game at 62 on a tip-in by Rashaun Warren, who had three of Kent State's five blocked shots. After Jared Jeffries made two free throws for Indiana, Huffman scored to give Kent State its first lead of the second half, 64-63, with 5:37 left. Tom Coverdale fouled Warren and then, reminiscent of Knight, was called for a technical when he complained. Huffman made 1-of-2 free throws on the tech as Coverdale left the game with his fifth foul with 4:34 remaining. Warren missed his first free throw to leave the Flashes ahead by two. Davis said Coverdale hurt his hip diving for a ball in the first half. "No excuse, but Coverdale is the only point guard we have. Once he went down, I was just trying to buy time," Davis said. "We were panicking a bit [without him]. He's a big part of our offense." Indiana took its last lead, 66-65, on a free throw by Haston before Huffman took over. He scored five straight points as Kent State led 70-66 with 2:30 remaining. Jeffries, the Big Ten freshman of the year, was called for traveling with Indiana down by four. Andrew Mitchell and Huffman scored consecutive baskets to give Kent State a 76-70 lead with 19 seconds left.
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