The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
2-1
Radford
1-2
Akron Rolls Past Radford, 88-41, Extends Home Streak to 19 Games
November 20 | Men's Basketball
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AKRON, Ohio – The University of Akron men's basketball team outscored Radford, 57-27, in the second half to pull away from the Highlanders as the Zips continue to roll at James A. Rhodes arena for its 19th straight home victory by a final score of 88-41 on Sunday night.
The Zips rattled off a 7-0 run to start the contest against Highlanders. Junior guard Antino Jackson (Houston, Texas) got the game underway with a triple from the corner, while senior center Isaiah Johnson (Cincinnati, Ohio) went to work in the paint with four straight points.
Akron pushed its lead to 20-8 with 7:03 to play in the first half after the Zips outscored Radford 11-4 over six minutes. The run was sparked by a trio of shots from long distance courtesy of junior guard Aaron Jackson (Gahanna, Ohio), followed by back-to-back 3-pointers by junior guard Noah Robotham (Las Vegas, Nev.).
Heading into the locker room, the Zips led by 15 points (29-14), their second largest lead of the first 20 minutes of play. Akron scored eight straight points in the final five minutes before Radford recorded the final basket of the half.
UA played stout defense through the first half, limiting the Highlanders to just 14 points on 21.7 percent (5-of-23) shooting from the floor and just 28.6 percent (2-of-7) from long range, while the Zips shot an efficient 43.5 percent (10-for-23) from the field and 45.5 percent (5-for-11) from downtown.
Akron came out of halftime firing on all cylinders both offensively and defensively. The Zips held the Highlanders to just three points in the first five minutes of the second half, while UA scored 15 points spread out through five different players to increase its lead to 46-17. Akron maintained the large lead for the duration of the game, limiting the Highlanders to just 41 points.
In the second half, Akron shot 66.7 percent (20-of-30) from the field, including a 53.3 percent (8-of-15) effort from downtown while cashing-in on 11-of-14 from the charity stripe for a 78.6 percentage.
For the game, Akron finished shooting 56.6 percent (30-of-53) from the floor, 50.0 percent (13-of-26) from behind the 3-point arc, and 71.4 percent (15-of-21) from the free throw line. The Zips caused 22 turnovers with eight steals and three blocked shots while limiting the Radford offense to 31.3 percent (15-of-48) shooting from the field and 20.0 percent (2-of-20) from long distance.
Twelve players touched the scoring column on the stat sheet with four Zips recording double digits in scoring, led by Johnson's 15 points. He added a team-high seven rebounds as the Zips won the battle of the boards 36-29. Freshman wing Daniel Utomi (Houston, Texas) followed in scoring with a career-high 14 points, shooting 4-of-5 from the field, 1-of-2 from deep, and 5-of-7 from the charity stripe. Rounding out the double-digit scorers were Antino Jackson and freshman guard Tavian Dunn-Martin (Huntington, W.Va.) with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Akron will be back in action at James A. Rhodes Arena, hosting the second game of the Savannah Invitational against Georgia Southern on Tuesday, November 22 at 7:00 p.m.
