WESTERN MICHIGAN at KENT STATE QUOTES

Guard David Kool

(On his feelings after the game) "This one stings a little bit more than any other ones because we came in here and competed really hard and we played as hard and as well as we could've tonight. Those are the ones that hurt the most. We put everything out there and that's the sign of a team growing up. It's a good sign for us, but on the other hand it really does hurt."

(On the difference in the game) "That's all we needed. One more stop or one more shot. That's what makes this one sting so much because we were that close. (McLemore's) a great shooter. He started off the year so hot and it's rare to see him go through this. He's been working really hard and we have all the confidence in the world that he's going to come back Monday night and knock down some shots for us."

Center Donald Lawson

(On Kent's winning shot) "It was a heckuva play. He got past some of our guards and went above the rim, got the foul and made the shot. I tip my hat off to him. All I could try to do was make a play on the ball. He got there quicker than I did and I tried to make a play on the ball and try to stop him."

(On David Kool) "It was a heck of a performance. It reminded me of a couple of years ago in Buffalo when he carried our team with Joe Reitz. He left it all out there, made some big plays and kept us in the game."

(How do you move on to playing Buffalo Monday) "Just the next possession. We've got to take this in, look at some film. As much as it hurts, we've got to pick our guys up and keep going."

Head Coach Steve Hawkins

(On the game) "I told the kids afterwards, I just felt awful for them. We corrected a lot of mistakes that we had been making on the road. Today, we played a lot better defensively in the second half than we did in the first half. Because of that, it helped us settle down offensively. David was the one guy we could keep out there that was not in foul trouble and having an impact on the game. He was feeling it and we just kept calling his number. We just came up a point short."

(On Kent's last play) "The possession before we took the shot before we wanted to take it and we left too much time on the clock. When David took it off the ball screen, they didn't trap it. He found himself one-on-one with a big guy. He just split the trap and found himself in the middle of the key. The play probably developed a little bit quicker than he expected. He made the right play, but we left a lot of time.

"We thought about pressing to give them a different look. We knew they would be aggressive and with as many fouls that had been called, I thought the last thing we wanted to do was put the air in the referees whistle. We knew what could beat us was the three, so we were careful about leaving strong-side shooters and we had Donald Lawson on the backline as a shot-blocker. Obviously, the kid came in and made a really nice play."

(On David Kool's performance) "Today might be a little more spectacular because we had so much foul trouble, we had no inside presence. That to me was the story of the game because we couldn't pull down clean rebounds. Our first shot defense wasn't bad in the second half and we couldn't pull down rebounds with that group out there. All we needed was one more rebound. That was where the game was won and lost because of the foul trouble we were in up front."

(On Martelle McLemore) "I was really proud of his defensive effort today. He really battled even though his shot has left him here. He did a heck of a job when our other big guys were in foul trouble."

(On hanging around after a rough start) "In the second half, we really had good team defense, but we couldn't get the whistle to stop blowing. It was one of the most foul-plagued games I've been a part of. We couldn't keep them off the free throw line and we had the wrong guys committing the fouls. Muhammed battled his tail off. It felt like I was coaching the game handcuffed because of the foul trouble we were in. Because of that, we were giving up offensive rebounds.

"We really battled. We showed some resolve. We showed a lot of fight as opposed to the previous games on the road."