The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
Kent State
Men's Basketball Dominates Second Half to Defeat Kent State 84-75
January 21 | Men's Basketball
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AKRON, Ohio – Nick Harney scored a career-high 21 points, 19 in the second half, to lead Akron to an 84-75 comeback win over neighborhood rival and Mid-American Conference East Division opponent Kent State on Saturday night in front of a sold out Rhodes Arena crowd and SportsTime Ohio television audience.
Harney, who went 10-of-12 from the field, played just 14 minutes and was one of three Akron (12-7, 4-1 MAC) players to post double-figure points as Chauncey Gilliam scored 11 and Brian Walsh 10. Zeke Marshall finished with seven points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots for the Zips, while Alex Abreu had seven assists compared to just one turnover.
Randal Holt led Kent State (12-6, 2-3 MAC) with a game-high 27 points.
The win earned UA one half point in the PNC Wagon Wheel Challenge to pull the Zips within 3.5-2.5 of KSU in the rivalry series standings. The victory also puts Akron atop the MAC's East Division standings.
Kent State pushed its lead to 10 points on several occasions in the second half before a Brett McClanahan 3-pointer at the 12:50 mark cut the Flashes advantage to 55-49. Quincy Diggs hit back-to-back 3-pointers to tie the game at 55-all with 11:38 to go. The consecutive long balls capped off an Akron 12-2 run (1:58).
Nikola Cvetinovic gave UA its first lead of the second half at 58-55 (11:02) with the squad's fourth 3-pointer in a row. That lead would be cut to one point before back-to-back buckets by Gilliam gave the Zips their largest lead of the game (66-59) with 7:34 on the clock. The buckets capped off a 23-6 run over a 6:16 period.
The Zips kept the pressure on KSU, pushing their advantage to 74-61 with 5:23 left thanks to six-straight points by Harney.
Akron led by as much as 78-63 with 3:37 to play following a Harney lay-in and held the margin to double-digits until a pair of Holt buckets with less than a minute to play cut it to nine, 82-73, and the 84-75 final tally.
The Zips grabbed an early 6-0 lead in the first 1:36 of the game, but the Flashes responded with six points of their own to tie the game with 16:58 left in the opening half.
The teams spent the next 10:53 trading baskets, with neither gaining a lead of more than three points. The Zips ended the run by forcing a Flashes timeout after two fast break buckets to open up a 28-23 lead with 6:05 before the break.
KSU closed the half on a 19-4 run over the final six minutes before Abreu hit two free throws with 1.1 second left to send UA to the locker room down 42-34.
A big story of the opening half was Akron's 11 turnovers (Kent State, 3), which Kent State converted into 20 points. Both teams shot the ball well, with the Zips connecting on 48.3 percent from the floor (14-of-29) and the Flashes shooting 47.2 percent (17-of-36).
Akron got its turnover issue in check during the second half, giving up the ball only four times after the break and finished the night with 21 assists.
The Zips open the West Division swing of their MAC schedule on Tuesday when they travel to Muncie, Ind., to face Ball State. Catch the game live on SportsTime Ohio beginning at 7 p.m. ET.
Zips Notebook: Nikola Cvetinovic (1,000th career point) and Zeke Marshall (Akron blocked shots record) were honored before the game ... tonight's appearance on SportsTime Ohio was the 20th-consecutive meeting between Akron and Kent State on television, the longest streak in the MAC between two league programs ... head coach Keith Dambrot took over sole possession of seventh place on the all-time MAC list for wins as a league coach (194).
