- Julius Rollins committed the foul after Cli’Ron Hornbeak gave Kent State the lead
- Kent State head coach Rob Senderoff admitted he ‘should have called a timeout’
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The end of Saturday’s MAC championship game took an interesting turn when Kent State’s Julius Rollins was accidentally fouled in the final seconds.
Trailing 59-60 with 10.4 seconds remaining, Kent State guard Jalen Sullinger attacked the paint before unfortunately missing his floater. However, center Cli’Ron Hornbeak made the follow-up basket to give the Golden Flashes a one-point lead with 6.2 seconds left.
As the team took the field to defend the final play, Rollins was seemingly unaware of the time and score. He then fouled Akron’s Greg Tribble, sending him to the free-throw line for two shots.
Kent State head coach Rob Senderoff was shown red in disbelief on the sideline as teammates consoled Rollins after the costly mistake.
Meanwhile, on the floor, Tribble sealed the 62-61 victory from the charity stripe, earning the Zippers their second MAC title in three years.
Kent State lost the MAC title game after guard Julius Rollins accidentally fouled an Akron player
Rollins made the mistake in the final seconds while the Golden Flashes had a one-point lead
Akron’s Greg Tribble made two free throws to secure the 62-61 victory and the conference title
Despite losing the match due to a miscue, Senderoff said he doesn’t blame Rollins for the mistake.
“He probably thought we were one down instead of one up,” Senderoff said, without going into much detail.
“Like I said to the team, I should have called the timeout there. I don’t blame Julius. There are 100 plays in the game and this was just one of them. What I told him: If this is the worst thing that will ever happen to you when you’re 50 years old like me, then you’ve had a pretty charmed life.
‘Tomorrow the sun will rise. It will be a little cloudy for me and our guys.”
On the other hand, Tribble was admittedly confused when he got an error.
“I was really surprised when he intentionally fouled me,” Tribble said. ‘It worked out for us in the end. It was surprising, but it was like free points. I’ll take them with me.’
Ali Ali scored 18 points and Enrique Freeman, the MAC player of the year, added 17 and nine rebounds for the Zips. Freeman was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.
The Zips now await their spot in the NCAA brackets. Freeman has been one of the most steady players in the country all season, with 30 double-doubles. He is a former walk-on who has emerged as one of the MAC’s best players in recent history.