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University of Akron
Kent State
Men's Basketball Uses Big Second Half to Down Kent State 71-67
January 19 | Men's Basketball
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KENT, Ohio – A 45-point second half and double-doubles by Demetrius "Tree" Treadwell and Zeke Marshall was the difference as the Akron Zips defeated Kent State 71-67 on Saturday afternoon in a Mid-American Conference East Division battle on ESPNU.
Down 10 at the half, the Zips held the Golden Flashes to just six buckets in the second half en route to a 45-point performance in the final 20 minutes. Akron has now won five-straight in the series and nine-straight overall.
Treadwell scored 15 points and grabbed a career-high 16 boards, including seven on the offensive glass. Ten of Treadwell's 16 rebounds came in the second half.
Marshall closed the day with 17 points and 11 boards, in addition to four blocked shots. Chauncey Gilliam, just 15 days off knew surgery, pitched in with 11 points, including three clutch 3-pointers.
Akron (13-4, 4-0 MAC) shot 37.1 percent from the floor (26-of-70) and 28.0 percent from 3-point range (7-of-25). Kent State (11-7, 2-2 MAC) finished the game shooting 35.2 percent (19-of-54) and 33.3 percent from long range (6-of-18).
Down 26-20 in rebounding at the half, the Zips dominated the boards in the second half (31-13) to win the overall battle 51-39.
Chris Evans led KSU with 19 points.
After turning the ball over on two of its first three possessions of the second half, Akron used an 8-2 run sparked by Treadwell's play on the offensive glass to cut KSU's lead to 38-34 (15:30). Treadwell had six of Akron's eight points and six rebounds, including three offensive.
KSU would respond and push its lead back to 46-37 by the 13:39 mark. The Akron defense would begin to show its muscle, holding KSU without a field goal for the next 5:43 to take a 51-50 lead into the under-eight media timeout. The Akron run stood at 14-4.
Neither team gained much of an advantage down the stretch, with Akron's 60-56 lead with 4:41 remaining as the largest lead heading into the final media timeout.
Four-straight KSU free throws game the Golden Flashes a three-point advantage, but an Alex Abreu 3-pointer knotted the game at 65-65 and Walsh hit on the next possession to put Akron up 66-63 with 1:33 remaining.
The Golden Flashes tied the game at 66-66 with 1:20 to go before the Zips would ice the game at the line for the 71-67 win.
The game started as a back-and-forth affair, with nine lead changes and two ties in the first 9:35 of the contest. However, six points by Treadwell and four by Nick Harney gave Akron a 16-15 lead with 10:25 left in the first half.
With his back-to-back blocks of KSU's Melvin Tabb – the second coming at the 9:21 mark of the first half – Marshall became the MAC's all-time leader for blocked shots (302).
Akron used a 7-0 run to open up a 21-15 by the 8:26 mark, but Kent State slowly began to chip away at the lead. The Golden Flashes were able to piece together a 14-3 run over the next five minutes to force a Zips' timeout with 3:34 remaining in the half and UA down 29-24.
The KSU run continued to 19-3 before a Marshall put-back dunk with 1:37 ended Akron's near four-minute drought with UA down 34-24. Both teams traded points as KSU took a 36-26 lead into the locker room.
The Zips shot 36.4 percent in the first half from the field (12-of-33) and just 10.0 percent from long range (1-of-10). KSU finished the half shooting 39.4 percent (13-of-33). The Golden Flashes held a 26-20 rebounding advantage and committed seven turnovers to Akron's six.
Treadwell finished the half with a team-high seven points and six boards, while Marshall added six points, four boards and three blocked shots.
The Zips stay on the road as they head to Toledo, Ohio, to face the Toledo Rockets on Wednesday, Jan. 23. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. ET on SportsTime Ohio.
Zips Notebook: Zeke Marshall passed Ball State's Lonnie Jones (301, 1998-2002) on the league's career blocked shots list ... with the win, ninth-year head coach Keith Dambrot earned his 217th career win as a MAC coach (217-125), fourth-most in league history ... Dambrot passed Miami (Ohio)'s Darrell Hedric (216-157) ... with the win, Akron now owns a 4.0-2.0 lead in the PNC Wagon Wheel Challenge ... Akron the first team to 60 in the game, become the 28th team in the last 30 meetings between KSU and Akron to win when scoring 60 first.
