Akron Falls 82-76 to No. 2 Louisville

Sunday, November 24

Louisville, KY

6 PM

University of Akron

4-2,0-0MAC

Louisville

6-0,1-0ACC

Akron

Louisville

November 24 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Akron men's basketball team fought back from a 22-point deficit, but the No. 2 ranked Louisville Cardinals were able to withstand the Zips final surge for an 82-76 win at the KFC YUM! Center on Sunday.

Akron (4-2) had three players score in double figures as senior Tyler Cheese (Albany, Ga.) and junior Loren Cristian Jackson (Chicago, Ill.) led the Zips with 20 points each. Cheese shot 6-of-17 from the floor with one 3-point field goal while adding a 7-of-8 performance from the free throw line. He also recorded four rebounds, four assists, three steals and a blocked shot. Jackson also stuffed the stat sheet by matching his season highs with six helpers and six rebounds.

Cheese and Jackson did most of the damage in the second half, combining for 28 of the Zips' 45 second-half points. Both players netted 14 points in the final stanza, including the final 22-of-25 points of the game.

Senior Channel Banks (Las Vegas, Nev.) accounted for the missing points, as he drilled a 3-pointer from the wing in the closing minutes to put the Zips within 11 points, 76-65 with 3:53 left to play. Banks finished the game with a career-high 18 points which included a career-best 6-of-10 showing from beyond the 3-point arc and added four rebounds, two assists and one steal.

Senior Xeyrius Williams (Springfield, Ohio) grabbed a team-high nine rebounds and chipped-in six points.

Defensively, the Zips limited the Cardinals to 41.9 percent shooting from the floor and 36.0 from deep, the lowest shooting percentages of the season to date, as four players reached double figures for Louisville. Jordan Nwora led the Cardinals with 18 points followed by Steven Enoch with 17. Ryan McMahon and Dwayne Sutton rounded out the double-figure scoring with 10 points each.

Louisville (6-0) started the scoring as Enoch opened the game with a dunk, collecting two of his 17 total points. The home team made it 5-0 when McMahon buried a 3-ball from the corner, but the Zips battled back to take the lead.

Jackson started the scoring for Akron from deep and Williams added a field goal to make the score 7-5 in Louisville's favor. After a UL missed shot and defensive rebound by Williams, Banks buried the first of six triples and Akron held a one-point advantage, 8-7. Riak increased the lead to three points with a strong post move in the paint and the Zips led by as many as four points in the opening five minutes, 12-8. The Cardinals regained the lead, but Banks connected again from deep for Akron to tie the game 17-17 by the first media timeout (13:35).

Louisville pulled ahead by three points before the second media break, 25-22, and used a series of runs to create more distance. It started with an 8-2 run for a 33-27 advantage until a Banks' three put the Zips back within six points, 33-27 with 6:10 left to play in the half.

In the final five minutes of the half, the Cardinals used an 11-0 run to take a 47-29 advantage into the locker room behind four consecutive field goals, including two from deep. Riak recorded the Zips final points, two free throws, which ended a five-minute scoring draught.

In the second half, the Cardinals increased the lead to as many as 22 points, 55-33, before Akron began to chip away. Cheese started the comeback with a reverse layup in the paint and followed with a midrange jumper get the deficit under 20 points at 55-37 with 17:15 remaining in the game.

By the 12-minute mark, Akron trailed by 10 points, 61-51, following a pair of free throws by junior Camron Reece (Oakland, Calif.). The home team pushed the lead back to 16 points, but another burst by Akron cut the score to nine with 3:15 left to play, 76-67.

Jackson scored eight points in the final three minutes that included three consecutive drives to the rim to make it a two-possession game with 24-seconds left to play, 78-74. Akron was forced to stop the clock by fouling and the Cardinals buried four-straight free throws despite shooting 21-of-30 from the charity stripe on the night.

The Zips return to James A. Rhodes Arena for a non-conference tilt against Merrimack on Friday, Nov. 29 at 7 p.m. The game can be heard on at SportsRadio1350.com, iHeart Radio, and TuneIn.com/AkronZips. Fans can also follow the action on GoZips.com via Live Stats.