The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
Buffalo
Men's Basketball Uses Big Second Half to Down Buffalo, 83-71
March 04 | Men's Basketball
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AKRON, Ohio – A 26-8 run in the second half and 25 points from Quincy Diggs pushed Akron to an 83-71 victory over Buffalo on Tuesday night in a Mid-American Conference East Division showdown at James A Rhodes Arena.
Diggs led all players in scoring with 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting (4-of-8 from 3-point range). His points came along with five boards, four steals and a team-high three assists.
Demetrius "Tree" Treadwell finished the night with 17 points off a 9-for-12 showing from the free throw line. He also grabbed six rebounds. Nick Harney rounded out the Zips' scoring with 14 points after going 6-of-9 from the field and 2-of-3 from the charity stripe. He ended the game with four boards.
Buffalo's Joshua Freelove led the Bulls (18-9, 12-5 MAC) in scoring with 17 points.
After halftime, the Bulls would use a three ball from Freelove to tie the game at 40-all at the 16:38 mark. The tie came at the top of an 11-2 run for Buffalo that quickly put the Bulls ahead 47-42 with 14:49 remaining.
A layup from Carmelo Betancourt at the 13:30 mark sparked an Akron run in which it outscored UB 26-8 over the next 10 minutes.
At the beginning of the run, a Harney slam-dunk off of a Diggs assist would give Akron a 51-50 lead in dramatic fashion at the 12:25 mark. An and-1 from Harney to finish the run would put the Zips ahead 71-58 with 3:16 remaining in the game.
Akron's lead would not drop below 10 as the rest of the Zips' points came from the charity stripe. UA would end the game shooting 17-of-28 from the line for 60.7 percent.
Akron shot 51.8 percent from the field (29-of-56) and 38.1 percent from long range (8-of-21).
A minute and a half into the first half of the game, the Zips would go on to score 12 uninterrupted points, contributing to a 19-2 run that gave Akron a 21-7 advantage at the 13:56 mark.
The Bulls would then respond with 11-straight points of their own, while keeping the Zips scoreless for almost five minutes as they brought the score to 24-21 by 8:06.
UB came within three points of the Zips twice more before the Bulls used a pair of free throws to make it a one-point game at 31-30 with 2:44 remaining in the half.
Two Akron buckets would end the half and keep the Zips ahead as they held a 35-30 advantage at halftime.
The Zips will close out the regular season on Friday, March 7, when they play host to Kent State at Rhodes Arena in the second installment of the PNC Wagon Wheel Challenge. Akron will honor senior Quincy Diggs before the game as part of Senior Night.
Tip between the Zips and the Golden Flashes is set for 7 p.m. ET and will air on ESPN2.
Zips Notebook: Tonight's game served as No. 100 for Quincy Diggs in a Zips' uniform ... Akron improved to 20-4 against Buffalo in Akron ... with the win, head coach Keith Dambrot tied Miami (Ohio)'s Darrell Hedric for fourth place on the MAC's all-time league wins list (128) ... the Zips have now won 38 league games in the last three seasons, tied for the most of any three-year stretch in school history (2006-08, 2005-07).
