CLEVELAND: When Kent State coach Todd Starkey emerged for his postgame press conference, he was fresh off a conversation with his team after a heartbreaking 67-63 loss to No. 6 Toledo in a Mid-American Conference Tournament quarterfinal at Quicken Loans Arena.
The No. 3 Golden Flashes slipped out of the tournament because of a late-game collapse riddled with turnovers and a streak of missed shots. KSU led by as much as eight points late in the third quarter, but the Rockets outscored the Flashes 17-7 in the fourth quarter.
Preseason polls selected the Flashes (19-12, 13-5 MAC) to finish last in the MAC East following an abysmal 6-23 season.