Strong defense overall and hot shooting from junior guard Carlton Guyton lift Kent State to a 90-49 victory over Bryant University Saturday evening in the second game of the World Vision Classic at Cleveland State's Wolstein Center.
CLEVELAND, Ohio — The off-season question for Kent State men's basketball this season was firepower. After two games that question appears moot as three players have scored big, early.The Golden Flashes improved to 2-0 on the season with a resounding 90-49 victory over Bryant University on Saturday afternoon in the second of three games this weekend in the World Vision Classic at Cleveland State's Wolstein Center.
"We've got a lot of guys who understand offense," head coach Geno Ford said.
Junior guard Carlton Guyton led KSU with 19 points, all within the first 25 minutes of the game. In Kent's game Friday against Iona, Justin Greene scored 26 points and Rod Sherman had 20. Greene had 12 against Bryant, while point guard Mike Porrini had 10 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
Guyton was an efficient 7-of-10 from the field, including 5-of-5 on 3-pointers to pace Kent against the Bulldogs (0-2).
KSU will next face host Cleveland State at 6 p.m. today in the third game in three days for both teams. And Kent will clearly need a comparable defensive effort to stay with the veteran Vikings. Kent held Bryant to 29.6 percent shooting for the game and outrebounded the Bulldogs, 51-31.
Kent State opened with a 10-3 run behind two Guyton 3-pointers and an alley-oop dunk by Justin Manns. In short order, the Bulldogs went to their high-flying freshman Alex Francis (11 points), who scored five straight points in one stretch to get Bryant back into the game, 17-11.
Kent, already nine players into its bench with 11:53 to play, was clearly working on cutting down the turnovers as they slowed down several fast-break opportunities. That in turn opened the door for Greene to assert himself. Greene went on his own 10-3 run, working inside and at the free-throw line as Kent pushed its lead to 33-16.
But with Greene on the bench the final seven minutes of the half, Bryant again had the better of the Golden Flashes and closed within 39-29 by halftime.
The game remained close the first few moments of the second half before three 3-pointers from Guyton gave Kent a 50-31 lead with just under 18 minutes to play. It never got closer after that as Bryant was held to six points the first 12 minutes of the second half on 2-of-14 shooting.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: ealexander@plaind.com, 216-999-4253