The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
Bowling Green
Harney's Late Bucket Gives Men's Basketball a 56-55 Road Win
January 11 | Men's Basketball
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Nick Harney's floater in the lane with 0.5 second left in the game gave Akron a 56-55 road win against Bowling Green on Wednesday night in a Mid-American Conference matchup.
The win for the Zips was the sixth-straight in the series and the 14th win in the last 15 meetings between the two schools. The win also moved Akron into sole possession of first place in the MAC East.
Akron (10-6, 2-0 MAC) closed the game shooting 43.8 percent from the floor (12-of-48), including a 50.0 percent performance in the second half (12-of-24).
Harney led all scorers with 12 points while Nikola Cvetinovic added 11 points.
Cameron Black and Dee Brown led Bowling Green (7-8, 1-1 MAC) with 10 points each.
After trailing 37-29 with 14:32 to go in the game, the Zips cut the Falcons' lead to two points (37-35) by the 12:26 mark. The Falcons answered and pushed their lead to 49-39 with 8:05 remaining.
Akron responded with a 9-0 run to get within one point (49-48) at the 5:27 mark. Harney tied the game with a 3-pointer (53-53) with 1:33 to go in the game. Quincy Diggs gave Akron its first lead of the game (54-53) with a free throw with 31.8 seconds left. Black gave BGSU a 55-54 lead with a lay-up with 11.9 second on the clock, but missed the and-one to set up Harney's game-winning shot.
The Zips fell behind early as the Falcons scored the first eight points of the game. BGSU pushed its advantage to 16-5 with 11:46 to go in the half. The Zips responded with two dunks by Zeke Marshall and a 3-pointer by Brian Walsh to force a Falcons' timeout with 9:16 to go and the BGSU lead at 16-12.
Alex Abreu connected with Chauncey Gilliam for an alley-oop dunk to tie the game at 16-16 at the 6:23 mark of the first half, ending an Akron 11-0 run (5:23). Both teams traded buckets before Bowling Green opened up a 26-20 lead heading into the locker room.
Walsh and Cvetinovic led the Zips with six points each as Akron shot 39.1 percent from the floor (9-of-23) and 40.0 percent from long range (2-of-5). UA was out-rebounded 22-12 in the half while forcing seven BGSU turnovers.
Akron returns home on Saturday, Jan. 14, to play host to the Ohio Bobcats at Rhodes Arena. The game, part of a double header with the women's squad (Kent State, 1 p.m.), will tip off at 4 p.m. and will air live on ESPNU.
Zips Notebook: The win for the Zips was the eighth-straight on the road against Bowling Green ... the 2-0 start on the road is the first for Akron since joining the MAC when opening league play with two road games (0-2, 1993-94; 1-1, 2000-01) ... head coach Keith Dambrot tied WMU's Bob Donewald for ninth on the all-time MAC league wins list (92).
