Kent State head coach Geno Ford was less than thrilled with the officiating during his team’s humbling 79-54 loss to Buffalo at Alumni Arena. But even if the game was played in the park, under pick-up rules where players call their own fouls, it’s doubtful Ford’s team could have found an answer for Bulls senior guard Byron Mulkey and junior forward Mitchell Watt.

Mulkey hit dagger after dagger from beyond the 3-point arc in the first half while Watt swatted Golden Flashes shots away from the rim like he was playing volleyball and racking up kills. Watt blocked five of his career-high eight shots in the first 20 minutes while Mulkey, who was 5-of-6 from 3-point range against Akron Sunday, connected on an identical 5-of-6 from three in the first half against Kent. Mulkey finished the game with a career-high 27 points, four rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Kent, on the other hand, was its own worst enemy all evening. The Golden Flashes turned the ball over 19 times, were 18-of-54 from the floor (33.3%), hit just 4-of-12 3-pointers (33.3%), was killed on the boards (38-22) and allowed the Bulls to shoot a blistering 52% from the floor (26-of-50). Buffalo hit 6-of-15 3-pointers, pulled down 13 rebounds and blocked 10 Kent shots (Kent, on the other hand, did not block a shot).

After trailing by 12 points at halftime, Kent was out-scored 36-23 in the second half.

“We never got anything going on the offensive end and Watt really bothered us inside,” Kent State coach Geno Ford said in one of the biggest understatements in the history of college basketball. ''We tried to challenge him early on, but once he got a few blocks, we began to rush our shots.''

Mulkey finished with a game-high 27 points and ended up hitting 5-of-7 from 3-point range…missing his only triple try in the second half. Kent could not figure out how to stop him in the first 20 minutes, often doubling off him to help down low. Time after Mulkey made them pay for this strategy.

“Every time we tried to help off of him [Mulkey], he just buried us,” Ford said.

The Bulls pushed their lead out to 20 points early in the second half, moved out to a 27-point lead at the 7:54 mark and coasted home from there.

The Golden Flashes were frustrated and dispirited in the second half and never really mounted any kind of a successful comeback attempt.

“They were good on both ends of the floor and forced us into a lot of turnovers that we don't normally have,” Ford said. “They were really sharp and played at such a high level, we would have needed to play really well to beat a team like that on the road.”

After a dominant career at Michigan City High School in Indiana, Jarrod Jones was a hot commodity. Xavier wanted him. So did Purdue. A number of big-name basketball schools were interested in bringing Jones, a 6-foot-9 power forward with long arms and quite a bit of muscle attached to his 230-pound frame to their schools to play ball.

He was exactly what a big-time program needed…a physical specimen that not only got the job done on the court, but in the classroom as well.

Then Jones got a bad break. Literally.

He was on an unofficial visit to Notre Dame and got involved in a pick-up game. While pulling down a rebound Jones landed awkwardly, breaking his left leg.

Suddenly he was no longer hearing from the big-time programs; obviously there was no guarantee Jones would be the same player when his leg had healed.

However, one school was there the entire time…before the fateful trip to Notre Dame, during the painful rehabilitation, after the most difficult part – when the rehab was done but the doctors had not yet cleared Jones to play – and when Jones was finally back on the court and ready to make his college decision. Ball State never had second thoughts, and was rewarded when Jones announced he was heading to Muncie to play for the Cardinals.

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SportsTime Ohio basketball play-by-play announcer Michael Reghi asked, as the second overtime between Ohio and Miami started Sunday night, “How is this to get the two months of conference basketball started? Can you imagine two more months of this?”

Rehgi said a mouthful. Heated rivals Ohio and Miami hooked up in an instant classic to kick off MAC play for both schools, with the RedHawks needing three overtimes to dispatch the Bobcats, 92-88, at the Convocation Center in Athens. If this game is any indication of what we can expect from MAC contests this season we are in for a thrilling ride.

Julian Mavunga and Antonio Ballard both played all 55 minutes for the RedHawks while D.J. Cooper logged a team-high 52 minutes for Ohio. There were 16 ties in the contest, and Miami’s largest lead of the game was eight points early in the second half. The Bobcats’ biggest lead was seven points late in the first half. It was not until :10 remaining in the final overtime that either team had more than a one-possession lead in any of the overtime sessions.

The overtime sessions were up-and-down affairs, with numerous players from each side making huge plays. Here are some of the highlights:

-          With under a minute remaining in the first overtime and Ohio trailing 73-70, D.J. Cooper ripped a steal away on one side of the floor, then nailed a step-back triple over Quinten Rollins to knot the game up at 73-73 and send the contest to a second overtime.

-          Antonio Ballard drew the fifth foul on T.J. Hall with 3:58 remaining in the second overtime with a strong move from well under the basket. He powered the ball back into Hall, hit the shot off the glass and connected on the free throw to put Miami up, 76-74.

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My entire life, whenever a discussion has come up regarding the best pure shooter in college basketball history the name Rick Mount has been thrown in the mix. Mount, it has been said, could do things from the perimeter with a basketball that had to be seen to be believed.

One such trick Mount supposedly pulled off took place when he would shoot by himself. It has been said that Mount could graze the back of the rim with his outside shots, causing the ball to bounce through the net and right back to him…meaning he did not need a rebounder to practice his outside shooting. People said he could do this about 90 percent of the time.

Mount was already a legend in the state of Indiana when he graduated from Lebanon High School and enrolled at Purdue University. There he put up amazing numbers. Mount played college ball in a different era, when freshmen were not allowed to play on the varsity squad and before the 3-point line was in effect. Regardless, he averaged 32.3 points in his collegiate career, shooting 49.8 percent from the floor and scoring 2,323 career points.

Also, during his Boilermakers career he was said to have never lost a post-practice game of H-O-R-S-E against his teammates…a game played with the unique rule that a shot was not good if it touched any part of the iron and did not hit nothing but net.

Scripps Howard News Service did a poll a few years back of 30 current and 10 former college coaches, asking them who they thought was the best outside shooter in college basketball history. Mount won the poll with ease.

However, this writer never saw Rick Mount play the game. Many times, as the years pass, a player’s on-floor exploits get more and more incredible in peoples’ memories. While there is no doubt Mount could shoot the rock, but it is difficult to think he is the greatest of all time. Mount played in the early-to-mid 1960’s and the game of basketball was much different back then. The defenders Mount faced, no doubt in my mind, were not as athletic or talented as they are today. Film study, tendencies, over-playing, etc., these things were not part of the NCAA Basketball lexicon back then as much as they are now. No one can dispute this.

The greatest pure shooter this writer has ever seen played in the Mid-American Conference. He was the kind of guy that was in range when he stepped off the team bus and, even though he played one season before the conference had adopted the 3-point line, put up amazing scoring numbers shooting primarily from distance.

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