Two game-winning buzzer beaters in a week might be asking too much.
Ohio guard D.J. Cooper received a pass from fellow freshman guard Jay Kinney with an open look well beyond the 3-point line with two seconds remaining. He put up the shot, but it rimed out and Kent State held on to win, 62-60.
In Wednesday's 63-62 win over IUPU, Armon Bassett hit a game-winning 3 as time expired. Unfortunately for the Bobcats, Cooper was unable to finish under the same circumstances.
I had a pretty good look
I just didn't knock it down Cooper said.
Kent State coach Geno Ford was in line with Cooper and the basket and thought Cooper created the magic again for Ohio.
I had the worst seat in the house Ford said. I don't know how it didn't go. It looked like perfect arch and on line the whole way.
John Groce didn't the blame for losing the game with Cooper for missing the shot, he said.
I told (the players) that
unfortunately
I feel like a prophet
Groce said. I told them the other day that sometimes
when a shot gets missed at the end of a (Mid-American Conference) game
everyone points to the shot.
But there are plenty of plays before that helped determine the outcome of the game.
And Ohio definitely struggled early in the game.
Both teams played sloppy to start
taking almost three minutes before getting points on the board. Kent State's Frank Henry-Ala scored the game's first basket at the 17:12 mark. After Henry-Ala hit the shot
the Golden Flashes' offense started rolling.
The same couldn't be said of Ohio
allowing Kent State (10-5 1-0
