Kent State managed to turn a comfortable 30-19 halftime lead over visiting Hampton into a 77-71 nail biter victory in front of 3,455 at the M.A.C. Center Thursday.

The Golden Flashes (1-1) led by as many as 18 points with just under nine minutes left to play, but the Pirates used an 8-0 run to cut Kent State's lead to 68-62 with 1:55 left in the game. The Golden Flashes hit 8 of 10 free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.

"What I liked, we went to the line, made big free throws," said Kent State head coach Jim Christian. "What I didn't like is we just made some careless passes with the basketball; not understanding time and score situation. That's a time you've just got to be solid and we just kind of got caught up in the moment and not just try to close the game out."

Hampton (1-2) missed its first five shots of the game and committed three turnovers in the first five minutes. That slow start allowed the Golden Flashes to jump out to a 6-0 lead. The Pirates then went on an 8-1 run to take an 8-7 lead with 13:30 left in the first half.

Junior Al Fisher hit a three to retake the lead, 10-7, and junior Rashad Woods hit two three pointers in less than a minute to extend the lead to 18-10 with 9:21 left in the opening half. Woods and sophomore Mike McKee each scored a team-high 16 points in the game.

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