It felt like a long-awaited rematch of the century between Ali and Frazier, and even though it wasn't senior night, there was no crowd, and no awards were handed out, the Kent State Tuscarawas Golden Eagles enjoyed the satisfaction of settling a score with Clark State on Thursday night winning 73-63.
The Navy and Gold won on the road at Clark State in their season opener (78-77), but they blew a 17-point second half advantage to the visiting Golden Eagles, losing 65-60 just three weeks ago that seemed to foul the air in Founders Hall Gym.
Early on, KSU Tusc flexed their muscles as they jumped out to a 6-0 lead which increased to 9-2 just inside of 17 minutes left in the opening half. It was 20-12 before Clark State made a move assisted by the three-point arc as they whittled the lead to 21-20 with 8:43 left on the clock.
Enter a hybrid triangle-and-two KSU defensive deployment.
Over an eight-minute span the Clark State offense sputtered, as the Eagles rose to the occasion and held their Springfield, Ohio opponents scoreless. Two highlight reel dunks, one by London Cobbs (Chicago, IL / Roosevelt) on an inbounds play under the basket and another by DeJuan Lawrence (Akron, OH / Kenmore) following a missed shot, combined with a Lawrence put back off a miss and a 15-foot jumper gave KSU Tusc a 10-point, 30-20 lead.
Clark State finally got a basket with :41.5 left before Lawrence victimized them again with another offensive rebound that he jammed home with :16 seconds left for a 32-22 halftime lead. Lawrence scored eight of Golden Eagles last 11 points of the half.
Only four minutes into the final half, the Eagles lead increased to 14 (38-24). It seemed they could get anything they wanted until a three-minute dry spell opened the door for Clark State. The visitors capitalized on four triples and a steal for a layup as they trimmed to lead to 56-50 with 6:57 left in the game.
A Cobbs three-ball and got things back on track for a 59-50 lead with 5:43 left on to play. And although the game never got closer than seven points, it wasn't until Lawrence made an old fashioned three-point play with an offensive stick back and foul shot with 1:19 left for a 69-59 lead, that they finally pulled out the smiles of sweet retribution.
In the end, the Golden Eagles won their first home game and finished the season with back-to-back wins. They also won two of three games they played versus Clark State.
Lawrence earned his seventh double-double on the year scoring 24 points and hauling in 17 rebounds---10 of them on the offensive glass. He made 10/14 field goals, had four dunks, and rejected three Clark State shots. Cobbs also had a double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds, while Arthur Jackson (Euclid, OH / Euclid) scored 13 points and snared 8 caroms.
The Golden Eagles scored 26 second chance points and 46 points in the paint. They also dominated the boards with a 48-26 rebounding edge.
London Cobbs was fouled and his headband sent flying, but had 20 points and 12 rebounds versus Clark State.
DeJuan Lawrence played above the rim against Clark State with 24 points and 17 rebounds. (Photos by Jason Keller)