The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
Northern Illinois
Men's Basketball Sweeps MAC West with 75-51 Win Over NIU
February 11 | Men's Basketball
Buy Tickets | Men's Basketball Gameday Central | Men's Basketball Promotions Final Statistics (PDF) | Final Statistics (HTML) | Video Highlights
Follow Akron Basketball on Twitter and Facebook
AKRON, Ohio – Three players scored in double figures to help the Akron Zips to their third sweep of the Mid-American Conference West Division in program history thanks to a 75-51 victory over Northern Illinois Saturday night at Rhodes Arena.
The sweep of the MAC West (6-0) is the second under eighth-year head coach Keith Dambrot and the first since 2005-06. Akron (18-7, 10-1 MAC) went 8-0 in cross-divisional play in 2005-06 and 1998-99. Including the 2011 MAC Tournament, Akron has won 11-straight against the West Division, nine-straight in the regular season.
Akron's 10-1 start to MAC play is the best in program history and is the first 10-1 start in league play for any team since 2005-06 season (Kent State).
Dambrot reached two milestones with the win, becoming the seventh coach to win 200 overall games as a MAC coach and the eighth coach to win 100 league games.
Nikola Cvetinovic led all players with 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field and 4-of-5 from the charity stripe. Nick Harney (12) and Demetrius Treadwell (11) also reached double figures. Treadwell added a game-high eight boards, including seven in the second half.
Keith Gray and Abdel Nader led NIU (3-20, 2-9 MAC) with 13 points each.
The Akron bench began to flex its muscle in the second half, stringing together a 15-5 run to give the Zips a 54-34 advantage by the 9:21 mark. Chauncey Gilliam extended the run with five points of his own, forcing an NIU timeout with 7:55 to go and Akron leading 59-34.
Despite not hitting their first field goal of the second half until the 15:41 mark, the Zips were able to grab a 39-27 lead thanks to a 5-of-6 performance at the line.
Akron opened up an early 10-4 lead (15:21) behind a strong defensive effort by Zeke Marshall, who blocked three shots in the first five minutes of the game. NIU answered with a 9-0 run to grab its first lead of the contest (13-10) with 10:37 to go in the half. Treadwell ended that run with a layup at the 10:15 mark.
After both teams traded several small leads, the Zips opened up a 31-22 advantage with 1:37 on the first half clock courtesy of a 12-2 run. The Huskies would score the final bucket of the half with Akron leading 31-24.
Treadwell led the Zips with seven points in the first half as Akron shot 52.4 percent from the floor (11-of-21), but did not connect on a 3-pointer (0-of-3). NIU held a 20-9 rebounding advantage, but turned the ball over 13 times and committed 11 fouls. UA finished with seven turnovers.
The Zips return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 15, when they play host to Miami (Ohio) at Rhodes Arena. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. ET.
Zips Notebook: Ten MAC East schools have swept the West in a single season (Kent State 6, Akron 3, Buffalo 1) ... the Zips are now 18-3 in the month of February over the past three seasons and have won 11-straight February games ... Akron has lost just one game to a MAC opponent since the beginning of the 2011 MAC Tournament (14-1).
