The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
Oral Roberts
Men's Basketball Falls 67-61 at Oral Roberts on ESPN2
February 18 | Men's Basketball
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TULSA, Okla. – The Akron Zips dropped a 67-61 decision to Oral Roberts in the 2012 Sears BracketBusters event Saturday afternoon at the Mabee Center.
The loss snapped UA's eight-game winning streak. Alex Abreu led the Zips (19-8) with 16 points, four assists and one steal. Nikola Cvetinovic was the only other Zip in double figures with 11 points, four rebounds and two assists.
Akron closed the game shooting 41.4 percent (24-of-58) and connected on just 5-of-22 shots from 3-point range (22.7 percent).
The Golden Eagles held a 41-26 rebounding advantage as the Zips forced 15 turnovers to just 11 committed.
Dominique Morrison led ORU (25-5) with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Akron opened the second half by scoring seven of the first eight points to close the gap to 34-29 with 18:06 left to play. ORU responded and pushed its lead back to 12 (41-29) at the 15:30 mark.
Once again the Zips fought back, closing to within three points (43-40) with 13:15 left in the contest. Quincy Diggs sparked the run with five points in a 32-second stretch. Nearly a minute-and-a-half later, Akron trailed 45-43 (11:53).
Over the next four minutes, both teams traded buckets and points, with ORU unable to gain a lead larger than three points. ORU was able to push its advantage to nine (60-51) with 4:43 left in the game.
UA cut the lead to four (62-58) with 1:46 left on the clock thanks to a Demetrius Treadwell lay-up, but would not come any closer.
The Zips fell behind early as the Golden Eagles grabbed a 16-8 lead with 11:49 to go in the first half. ORU shot 53.8 percent during the stretch and forced Akron to commit four turnovers.
Akron began to chip away at the ORU advantage, closing the gap to 16-11 (10:21), but the Golden Eagles would answer and extend their lead to 28-13 by the 4:42 mark.
UA pieced together a 9-0 run over the next 1:52 to close the gap to 28-22 entering the final media timeout of the half (1:31). ORU scored the next five points to take a 33-22 lead into halftime.
Nick Harney led the way in the half, scoring five points off the bench. The Zips shot 38.5 percent in the opening 20 minutes (10-of-26) and committed eight turnovers. ORU held a 22-11 advantage on the boards and also committed eight turnovers.
Akron returns to Mid-American Conference play on Wednesday when Bowling Green visits Rhodes Arena. Game time is set for 7 p.m. ET.
Zips Notebook: Zeke Marshall passed Central Michigan's Ben Poquette (234) for fifth place on the MAC career blocked shots list (235) ... Akron falls to 3-6 all-time in the BracketBuster event, 0-4 on the road.
