Kent State player mistakenly fouls opponent with his team LEADING in final seconds of MAC title game... as Akron makes free throws to seal win

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The ending to the MAC championship game on Saturday took an interesting turn when Kent State's Julius Rollins mistakenly committed a foul in the dying seconds.

Down 59-60 with 10.4 seconds remaining, Kent State guard Jalen Sullinger attacked the paint before unfortunately missing his floater. Center Cli'Ron Hornbeak, however, made the follow-up basket to give the Golden Flashes a one-point lead with 6.2 seconds remaining.

As the team went down the court to defend the last play, Rollins was seemingly unaware of the time and score. He then fouled Akron's Greg Tribble, sending him to the free-throw line for two shots.

Kent State head coach Rob Senderoff turned red on the sideline in disbelief as teammates consoled Rollins after the costly mistake.

Meanwhile, on the floor, Tribble sealed the 62-61 win from the charity stripe, earning the Zippers their second MAC title in three years.

Kent State lost the MAC title game after guard Julius Rollins mistakenly fouled an Akron player 

Rollins committed the foul in the dying seconds while the Golden Flashes had a one-point lead 

Akron's Greg Tribble made two free throws to secure the 62-61 win and conference title 

Despite losing the game to a miscue, Senderoff said he does not blame Rollins for the mistake. 

'He probably thought we were down one instead of up one,' Senderoff said without going into many details. 

'As I told the team, I should have called the timeout there. I do not blame Julius. There's 100 plays in the game and that was just one of them. The thing that I told him, if this is the worst thing that ever happens to you when you're 50 years old like I am, you've had a pretty charmed life.

'Tomorrow the sun will come up. It will be a little cloudy for me and our guys.'

On the other hand, Tribble was admittedly confused when he got fouled. 

'I was really surprised when he intentionally fouled me,' Tribble said. 'It ended up working out for us. It was surprising, but it was like free points. I'll take them.' 

Ali Ali scored 18 points and Enrique Freeman, the MAC’s player of the year, added 17 and nine rebounds for the Zips. Freeman was named the tournament’s most outstanding player. 

The Zips now wait to see their spot in the NCAA brackets. Freeman has been one of the nation’s steadiest players all season, recording 30 double-doubles. He’s a former walk-on who has grown into one of the MAC’s best players in recent memory.