Williams, Jackson Lift Akron to First Road Win, 85-73

Wednesday, December 4

Huntington, W.Va.

7 PM

University of Akron

6-2

Marshall

2-5

AKRON

MARSHALL

Williams, Jackson Lift Akron to First Road Win, 85-73

December 04 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

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HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The Akron men's basketball team secured their first road win of the season, defeating Marshall 85-73 behind a pair of 20-plus point performances from senior Xeyrius Williams (Springfield, Ohio) junior Loren Cristian Jackson (Chicago, Ill.) at the Cam Henderson Center on Wednesday evening.

Williams recorded his second double-double of the season by halftime en route to a career-best 25-point, 14-rebound night. He was the Zips second leading scorer, shooting 55.6 percent from downtown (5-of-9) and 45.5 percent from all areas of the court (10-of-22). Williams added two assists, one block and one steal.

Meanwhile, Jackson led the squad in scoring with a season-high 28 points while dishing out five assists and grabbing five rebounds. Jackson shot 50 percent from the floor, connecting with 8-of-16 field goals that included a 57.1 percent effort from beyond the 3-point arc on 4-of-7 shooting. In addition, Jackson was perfect from the free throw line, draining all eight attempts.

Junior Camron Reece (Oakland, Calif.) added a double-digit scoring performance, finishing with 13 points while collecting six rebounds.

Akron (6-2) started the scoring and only trailed in the game when Marshall (2-5) answered the Zips initial bucket with a 3-pointer. From there, the Zips received back-to-back layups by Reece and never looked back. The pair of lay-ins sparked a 14-2 run, allowing the Zips to take an 11-point advantage by the 15-minute mark, 16-5.

The Zips continued to push the pace of the game and Jackson was a perfect 4-of-4 from the floor which included a pair of shots from deep at the under-12 media timeout. With 11:20 to play in the first half, Akron led 18-7.

Akron increased the lead to 15 points on a dunk by senior Deng Riak (Melbourne, Australia) at the midpoint and led by as many as 16 points when Jackson connected with his third triple of the half, 38-22.

During the initial 20 minutes, Williams was all over the court, impacting the game on both ends of the floor. He grabbed 10 rebounds in the opening frame with three offensive boards that resulted in six of the Zips eight second chance points. Williams also connected from deep three times and scored 15 points.

At the break, Akron led by 15 points, 45-30, and held a plus-15 advantage on the glass (29-14) while scoring 23 points in the paint compared to The Herd's 14 points.

In the second half, Akron maintained the double-digit advantage and increased the lead to as many as 19 points, 55-36, before Marshall was able to cut the lead down to 11 points, 82-71, with 1:23 left to play.

The Thundering Herd had four players reach double figures in scoring as Jarrod West led the squad with 17 followed by Taevion Kinsey (15), Iran Bennett (13) and Cam Brooks-Harris (11).

Akron finished the game shooting 46.7 percent from the floor (28-of-60) and 50 percent from long range (11-of-22) while limiting The Herd 29.4 percent from deep (5-of-17) and 45.9 percent from the field (28-of-61).

The Zips won the battle of the boards 44 to 28.

The Zips return to James A. Rhodes Arena for a non-conference tilt against Southern on Sunday, Dec. 8 at 2 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.