Warzynski nets 21 as Kent St. holds off Toledo to win MAC

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Cradling the tournament trophy in both arms, senior guard DeAndre Haynes recoiled his head and gazed into the shiny basketball on top.

The reflection was a familiar one. For Kent State, it looked a lot like 2002.

Four years after crashing the NCAA Tournament, the Golden Flashes are on their way back looking to do more damage.

Senior Kevin Warzynski scored 21 points and made two huge baskets when his team was barely hanging on as Kent State won the Mid-American Conference tournament 71-66 over Toledo on Saturday night to earn the MAC's automatic NCAA bid.

"We all felt like this was our year," said Haynes, who was on Kent State teams that lost in the title game in 2003 and 2004. "We weren't going down three times."

Kent State (25-8) never trailed but had to withstand two furious comebacks by the Rockets (20-11), who closed to 69-66 with 20.5 seconds left. However, Kent State, which improved to 23-0 when leading with 5 minutes left, survived.

Armon Gates made two free throws with 13.3 seconds left, and after a miss by Toledo, Haynes broke out of a press and dribbled out the clock. After the horn sounded, Haynes had just enough time to execute a nifty gymnastic move at mid-court before he and his teammates were swarmed by an avalanche of Kent State fans.

Warzynski, the tournament MVP, and fellow senior Nate Gerwig, who started as a freshman for the 2002 squad that made a magical NCAA run, rolled around the floor like a couple kids as the party got started.

"It feels so much better to get back to the NCAAs," said Gerwig, whose career was nearly cut short because of several injuries and surgeries. "For a while, I didn't know if I'd be able to play again.

"As a freshman I kind of expected to get back [to the NCAAs], but now I realize how hard it is."

Mike Scott added 13 points and eight rebounds, and Haynes had 12 points for the Golden Flashes.

Justin Ingram had 16 points and Kashif Payne 14 for Toledo.

Kent State hasn't been in the NCAA field since 2002 when a team featuring seniors Trevor Huffman, Andrew Mitchell, Demetric Shaw and Antonio Gates -- now a Pro Bowl tight end for the San Diego Chargers -- was one of the last eight teams alive.

This year's Kent State squad is a lot like that one: experienced, defensive-minded and balanced.

Some say these Golden Flashes might even be better than their more heralded alumni.

"That's a tough group," Toledo coach Stan Joplin said of this Kent State team. "I don't know if there's been more of a tough-minded team in the league."

Before the tournament, members of Kent State's immortalized 2002 team -- the four seniors had their numbers retired -- took part in a video called "Answer the Call," in which they phoned in supportive messages for this year's team.

"There isn't a kid on that team that doesn't know exactly what's going on with this year's team," Kent State coach Jim Christian said. "It's family."

As a way of honoring the '02 team, whenever the Golden Flashes left a timeout during the tournament, they huddled and shouted one of the former players names before returning to the court. "Trevor," "Antonio" and "Shaw" were some of their war cries.

"The legacy that team left will always be there," said Warzynski. "We're just trying to do our own thing now."

Kent State followed up winning the regular-season title by taking its fourth MAC tourney title -- and first under Christian, voted the league's top coach in 2005-06.

The Golden Flashes did it with depth and a smothering defense that grounded the Rockets for 30 minutes.

However, Toledo, down by 18 in the second half, came charging back and closed within 60-57 on Anton Currie's steal and layup with 3:18 to go.

But Warzynski, the MAC's top sixth man, grabbed a rebound and scored on a putback to give the Golden Flashes some breathing room. After a Toledo turnover, Warzynski then backed inside and scored again to make it 64-57 with 1:56 remaining.

Ingram missed a 3-pointer for Toledo, and Haynes, who had two sub-par games to start the tournament, drained a pair of free throws. On the Rockets' next trip, Toledo's Keonta Howell was sent sprawling under the scorer's table and had to be helped to the bench.

Still, the Rockets weren't done and three consecutive 3-pointers -- two by Ingram -- in 31 seconds gave them one last chance.

"We're not the type of team that gives up," Payne said.

And neither are the Golden Flashes, who were able to do just enough to get themselves an NCAA invitation.

"This is why I came to this school," said Warzynski. "This is what you play in your backyard for -- a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament."