Akron Falls at Eastern Michigan, 63-49

Tuesday, January 16

Ypsilanti, MI

7 p.m.

University of Akron

8-9 (1-4MAC)

Eastern Michigan

11-7 (2-3MAC)

AKRON

Eastern Michigan

January 16 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

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Ypsilanti, Mich. – Freshman guard Eric Parrish (Cypress, Texas) scored a career-high 18 points as the Akron Zips fell 63-49 to Eastern Michigan at the Convocation Center on Tuesday night.

Parrish paced the Akron (8-9, 1-4 MAC) offense in the first half, scoring 12 points by intermission. He shot 5-of-8 from the field, including a perfect 2-of-2 effort from beyond the 3-point arc. He swiped three of his four steals in the first stanza. Parrish finished the game 7-of-15 from the floor and 2-of-5 from downtown with a perfect 2-of-2 performance from the charity stripe. He added four rebounds and three assists.

Akron and Eastern Michigan (11-7, 2-3 MAC) battled in the opening frame that featured four tied scores and two lead changes. With 4:31 left until the break, the Eagles used an 8-0 run to take a 34-25 lead with 2:08 left to play. Parrish scored the half's final bucket as the home team entered the locker room with a 34-27 advantage.

Akron opened the second half shooting 1-of-8 as the Eagles built a 10-point lead by 15:47 mark. An Ivey 3-pointer at 9:40 sparked a 5-0 run and forced the Eagles into a timeout with 8:48 remaining in the game.

EMU pushed the lead back to 10 points after Minnie connected from deep as the shot clock expired and Jackson finished a fast break, giving the Eagles a 53-43 edge at the 6-minute mark.

Freshman Mark Kostelac (Cleveland, Ohio) stopped EMU's 5-0 run with a strong post move and senior transfer Malcolm Duvivier (Toronto, Ontario) followed with a pair of free throws to bring Akron within six points, 53-47, but the Eagles outscored the Zips 10-the rest of the way.

The Zips finished the game shooting 17-of-55 (.309) from the field with a 7-of-29 showing from downtown (.241). Akron was a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line.Akron won the turnover battle 12-14 but was slightly edged on the glass 32-34.

EMU was led by Elijah Minnie and Paul Jackson with 22 and 20 points, respectively. The Eagles shot 46.7 percent from the floor (21-of-45) and 38.9 from deep (7-of-18). EMU added a 70.0 percent effort from the free throw line (14-of-20).

Duvivier added 12 points to the Zips total while junior Jimond Ivey (Cleveland, Ohio), sophomore Daniel Utomi (Houston, Texas), and freshman Virshon Cotton (Milwaukee, Wisc.) chipped in five points each.

The Akron Zips return to James A. Rhodes Arena for back-to-back league games. First, Akron hosts Western Division foe Northern Illinois on Saturday, Jan. 20 at 4:30 p.m. ET. Next, the Zips host Eastern Division rival Ohio Bobcats on Tuesday, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. ET. Fans can follow the action on ESPN3, 1350-AM, or GoZips.com.