Akron Debuts with an 81-64 Victory Over Malone

Tuesday, November 5

Akron, Ohio

7 PM

University of Akron

1-0,0-0MAC

Malone University

-00,00 GMAC

Malone

Akron

November 05 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

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AKRON, Ohio – The Akron men's basketball team opened the 2019-20 season with an 81-64 win over the visiting Pioneers from Malone University on Tuesday evening at James A. Rhodes Arena.

Senior transfer Xeyrius Williams (Springfield, Ohio) emerged as the Zips leading scorer, pacing Akron with 17 points and just missed a double-double debut by collecting nine rebounds. Seniors Channel Banks (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Tyler Cheese (Albany, Ga.) followed with 15 points apiece. Banks buried five 3-pointers on eight attempts en route to a 62.5 shooting percentage from deep while Cheese added a 3-of-5 effort from downtown.

Akron had five players score in double-digits as junior Camron Reece (Oakland, Ca.) totaled 13 points and six rebounds. Junior Loren Cristian Jackson (Chicago, Ill.) also grabbed six rebounds to go along with 12 points. Senior Deng Riak (Melbourne, Australia) chipped in seven rebounds and four points.

The Zips started the game with a pair of 3-pointers as Williams buried the first bucket of the season followed by Banks. Akron led 6-0, but Malone fired back with a 10-0 run fueled by a layin, two free throws and a pair of triples. The Pioneers led by as many as six points, 16-10, before Akron began to cut into the lead.

The Zips used a series of 3-point attacks to regain control of the scoreboard as Williams started the run with an old-fashioned 3-point play. Cheese and Banks added long distance strikes and Reece capped the 11-2 run with an offensive rebound and put-back to give Akron a 21-18 advantage with 8:33 remaining in the first half.

The Zips outscored the visitors 18-12 in the final eight minutes of the first frame as freshman Ali Ali (Kendallville, Ind.) brought the JAR to its feet with a breakaway dunk. At halftime, Akron led 39-30.

In the second half, Akron and Malone traded buckets for the first four minutes until a 13-0 run propelled the Zips to a 58-39 advantage. Akron continued to put points on the scoreboard and established its largest lead of 22 points, thanks to a triple from Banks, 63-41. The Zips maintained the double-digit lead and Reece added some excitement as Williams fed him an alley-oop with 1:50 to play. Reece brought the crowd to its feet once again with a turnaround dunk in the paint.

Sehill Mouliom led the Pioneers scoring efforts with 23 points and added nine rebounds.

Akron continues the 2019-20 campaign on the road, traveling to Morgantown, W.Va. to play Big 12 conference member West Virginia. On Friday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m., the Zips are scheduled to play the Mountaineers at the WVU Coliseum. Former Zips' head coach Bob Huggins led his squad to the CBI postseason tournament last season. In addition, the Akron men's soccer team squares-off against the Mountaineers in Morgantown on Thursday night, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m.