The University of Akron Athletics
Men's Basketball Tops Austin Peay, 74-57
February 18 | Men's Basketball
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AKRON, Ohio - Romeo Travis and Jeremiah
Wood combined for 35 points and 20 rebounds as the University
of Akron men's basketball team defeated Austin Peay 74-57 in an
O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters match-up on Saturday at Rhodes
Arena.
Travis (Akron, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary HS) led all scorers with
21 points to go along with nine rebounds and four blocks. For the
second-straight game Wood (Akron, Ohio/Central-Hower) recorded a
double-double with 14 points and a game-high 11 boards.
Nick Dials (New Haven,
Ohio/Willard HS/Ohio St.) added 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting, with
three makes coming from behind the arc. Cedrick Middleton
(Chicago Heights, Ill./Marian Catholic HS/Brewster Academy [N.H.])
also contributed 11 points - depositing three triples on the
night.
Akron (20-5) led 40-35 early in the second half and went on 10-3
run that featured a pair of deep 3-pointers from Middleton and
Joyce, as well as a high-flying, alley-oop from Middleton to
Quade Milum (Dayton,
Ohio/Colonel HS) to make the score 50-38 with 13:47 left.
Milum added another thrilling dunk as he caught a lob off an
inbounds play from underneath the basket from
Dru
Joyce (Akron, Ohio/St. Vincent-St.-St. Mary HS) - giving Akron
a 60-42 lead at the 7:51 mark. Joyce finished with three
assists.
Austin Peay (18-8) got within 64-52, but the Zips never trailed as
they improved to 12-1 at home this season and notched win No. 20
for the second-consecutive season.
Travis scored the first six points of the game as the Zips claimed
an early 14-2 advantage with just under 14 minutes left in the
first half.
UA held a 17-3 edge, but the Governors fought back to tie the game
at 19 at the 8:07 mark.
Dials buried a three-pointer from the left corner to give the Zips
a 26-22 lead at 5:53 as UA went into the locker room ahead
32-28.
Akron connected on 46.6 percent (26-of-56) of its attempts from the
floor and limited Austin Peay to just 33.3 percent (19-of-57) as it
made just of 9-of-30 tries in the second half. The Zips won the
rebounding battle 46-30 and likewise benefited from 36 points in
the paint and 18 points off of second-chance opportunities.
Drake Reed, Fernandez Lockett and Wes Channels each scored 13
points to lead Austin Peay, which has already clinched the Ohio
Valley Conference regular-season title. Entering Saturday, the
Governors had won 15 of their last 16 games.
The Zips, who lead the Mid-American Conference East Division and
have won in 11 of their last 12 outings, will return to league play
on Wednesday when they travel to Oxford, Ohio to take on Miami
(Ohio). Tip-time is set for 7:30 p.m. EST at Millett Hall.
