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Men's Basketball Drops 74-70 Decision to Buffalo on Senior Night
February 29 | Men's Basketball
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AKRON, Ohio – The University of Akron men's basketball team closed out its regular-season home schedule with a 74-70 loss to Buffalo on Wednesday night in Mid-American Conference play at Rhodes Arena.
Despite the loss, and following Ohio's 68-61 loss at Kent State tonight, Akron (20-10, 12-3 MAC) can finish no lower than the No. 2 seed in next week's MAC Tournament in Cleveland. The Zips have earned a bye into the semifinals, which will be played Friday, March 9.
Down 68-62 with 3:08 to go, Akron scored five-straight points – capped by an Alex Abreu 3-pointer with just over one minute to play – to trail to 68-67. Buffalo (18-9, 11-4 MAC) converted 6-of-6 free throws over the final 54 seconds, all by Tony Watson, to hang on for the win and hand the Zips their only home loss in league play this season.
Abreu led five UA players in double figures with a career-high 18 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field, including a 3-of-6 performance from behind the arc. He also had a game-high six assists, compared to just one turnover, in 36 minutes of action.
Demetrius Treadwell and Nikola Cvetinovic each posted 11 points, while Brian Walsh and Zeke Marshall scored 10 points apiece. Treadwell also had six boards.
Mitchell Watt led the Bulls with 22 points and six rebounds.
Buffalo opened the second half on a 11-2 run, taking a 45-40 lead with 14:23 to go. Akron turned the ball over four times during the stretch, twice on offensive fouls. Abreu ended the run with a 3-pointer and sparked a 7-2 Akron run to tie the game at 47-all with 12:06 remaining. Treadwell had four points during that rally.
The Bulls would respond, opening up the game's largest lead at 57-50 with 9:09 left. The advantage was short-lived as Akron closed to within one (57-56), scoring on its next three possessions.
Both teams showed some early jitters, combining for seven turnovers in the first three minutes of the game. However, the Zips and Bulls settled in as Akron led 11-10 at the under-12 media timeout (10:33).
From there, the game became a bucket-for-bucket affair, with neither team gaining a lead larger than four points. With the score tied 23-all, the Zips were able to open up a six-point advantage thanks to a smart inbounds play by Abreu and a 3-pointer by Brett McClanahan.
Abreu, with the ball out under the basket, threw it in off of a Buffalo defender, made the layup and was fouled. He converted the three-point play before McClanahan's trey on the next possession, forcing a Buffalo timeout with Akron leading 29-23 at the 3:02 mark.
The Zips would take a 38-34 lead into the locker room. In the first half, Akron shot 48.1 percent from the field (13-of-27), but ended the game at 44.4 percent (24-of-54). Buffalo managed 44.1 percent in the first half (15-of-34), but closed out the night at 51.8 percent (29-of-56) and made 63.6 percent (14-of-22) of its attempts in the second period.
The Zips will have a quick turnaround as they head to neighborhood rival Kent State on Friday, March 2, to conclude the regular season on ESPN2. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. ET. The contest is worth one half point in the PNC Wagon Wheel Challenge.
Zips Notebook: The game served as Senior Night for UA's Nikola Cvetinovic, Brett McClanahan and Kyle Petersen, who were honored in a pregame ceremony ... Abreu's previous career-high in points was 16 (twice), with the last being at Oral Roberts on Feb. 18 ... the loss snapped a 14-game home winning streak against MAC opponents ... Cvetinovic moved into 30th place on Akron's all-time career scoring list (1,124), passing Cedrick Middleton (1120, 2005-08).
