Gillespie puts up 27 as Kent State beats Ohio 86-75 in Mid-American Conference Tournament

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CLEVELAND (AP) — Delrecco Gillespie had 27 points in No. 3 seed Kent State's 86-75 win over sixth-seeded Ohio on Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the Mid-American Conference Tournament.

Kent State (24-8) plays No. 2 seed Akron in the semifinals Friday.

Gillespie also contributed eight rebounds and three steals for the Golden Flashes (23-8, 14-4 Mid-American Conference). Morgan Safford scored 24 points while shooting 8 for 12 (3 for 5 from 3-point range) and 5 of 6 from the free-throw line, and added six rebounds. Rob Whaley Jr. shot 5 of 10 from the field and 4 for 8 from the foul line to finish with 14 points.

Aidan Hadaway finished with 24 points and seven rebounds for the Bobcats (15-17). Javan Simmons added 22 points for Ohio. Jackson Paveletzke finished with 12 points and seven assists.

Kent State led Ohio at the half, 40-38, with Safford (10 points) its high scorer before the break. Kent State took the lead for good with 18:28 left in the second half on a layup from Gillespie to make it a 44-42 game.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.