The Associated Press

Road games in the Mid-American Conference are tough, even for the league’s division leaders.

Tuesday, January 23, 2001

Road games in the Mid-American Conference are tough, even for the league’s division leaders.

Kent State took over first place in the MAC East with a win at home against Marshall on Saturday, and Toledo lost at Northern Illinois to drop out of first place in the West.

”Kent State is very good team at home and you are going to get down here and you just have to play through that,” Marshall coach Greg White said. ”The test is when you go on the road. We will see how good of a team they are when they come down to Huntington.”

Trevor Huffman scored 23 points, including 12-of-12 free throws, as the Golden Flashes knocked Marshall out of first place with an 89-67 victory. Kent State (12-5, 5-1) made 30-of-33 free throws compared to 8-of-12 made by the Thundering Herd.

”It was a great game for us tonight and we still need to build on that and prove how good we are in this league,” said Kent State coach Gary Waters.

J.R. Vanhoose scored 22 points and Cornelius Jackson added 14 for Marshall (11-4, 5-2).

After losing by one point on Wednesday at home to Ball State, Toledo fell from first place in the West with a 69-67 loss at Northern Illinois.

Stephen Jones scored 16 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, and Mike Brown and Al Sewasciuk scored 14 points apiece for the Huskies (4-11, 3-3).

Toledo made just 3-of-22 from 3-point range. Milo Kirsch led the Rockets with 14 points. Robierre Cullars and Greg Stempin each scored 12 points for Toledo (12-5, 4-2).