The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
Ohio
Men's Basketball Stays Perfect in MAC Play with 68-63 Win Over Ohio
January 14 | Men's Basketball
Buy Tickets | Men's Basketball Gameday Central | Men's Basketball Promotions
Final Statistics (PDF) | Final Statistics (HTML) | Video Highlights
AKRON, Ohio – Nikola Cvetinovic converted a pair of foul shots with two seconds remaining to secure a 68-63 victory for Akron over visiting Ohio on Saturday in a Mid-American Conference contest at Rhodes Arena before an ESPNU audience.
The win kept the Zips (11-6, 3-0 MAC) atop the league's East Division standings and was their fourth-straight victory and eighth in nine outings. UA is the only undefeated team in conference play to date. It marks Akron's fifth 3-0 start since joining the MAC in 1992 and the first since the 2007-08 season (4-0).
Zeke Marshall led all scorers with 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field and made 7-of-11 from the free throw line. Nick Harney and Brett McClanahan chipped in with 10 points each for the Zips who are 7-1 at home this season.
D.J. Cooper led Ohio (13-4, 1-2 MAC) with 13 points.
With the OU lead seesawed between one and four points, Marshall tied the game at 55-all with 5:18 on the clock. Alex Abreu hit his only 3-pointer of the day to give Akron a 59-57 lead it would not relinquish with 3:58 to go.
The Zips closed the game by pushing their lead to as much as seven points over the final four minutes to seal the victory.
Marshall's block with 8:59 left in the game was his third of the game and the 200th of his career. Only eight players, including Marshall, have recorded 200 blocked shots for their career in MAC history.
Akron had a brief lead to open the second half (31-30) thanks to a pair of free throws by Marshall (19:47) before the Bobcats regained the lead. The OU lead grew to 40-35 at the 15:19 mark before UA began chipping away at the advantage.
Both teams played it close over the first ten minutes of the game, with Ohio leading most of the way. However, a defensive board by Cvetinovic led to a fastbreak layup by Diggs to tie the game at 15-15 with 10:29 left in the half.
After the Bobcats pushed their lead back to four points (19-15), Cvetinovic tied the game at 19-19 at the 4:35 mark. Walsh gave the Zips their first lead of the game (21-19) at the charity stripe with the clock stopped at the 3:18 mark.
The lead changed hands several times over the final three minutes before OU's Nick Kellogg hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send Ohio into halftime with a 30-29 lead.
Harney led all players with seven points in the half, adding two rebounds and a steal in nine minutes. Walsh and Marshall had five points each.
Akron held Ohio to just 39.3 percent shooting from the floor (11-of-28) while shooting 50.0 percent (8-of-16) as a team. The Zips held a 15-12 rebounding advantage, but committed nine turnovers to the Bobcats' six.
The Zips head to Buffalo, N.Y., to face the Bulls on Wednesday, Jan. 18, at 7 p.m. ET. The game will air locally on TimeWarner Cable SportsNet and online at www.mac-sports.com.
Zips Notebook: The crowd of 4,661 was the largest of the season for the Zips at Rhodes Arena ... with today's victory, head coach Keith Dambrot earned his 93rd win in MAC play and passed Bob Donewald (Western Michigan) to move into ninth place on the league's list ... the win was also Dambrot's 193rd overall (173 at Akron; 20 at Central Michigan) as a MAC coach and tied him for seventh with Dick Parfitt (Central Michigan) ... UA is 46-19 in January under Dambrot (eighth season).
