Zips Take the Battle to No. 21 Buffalo, but Fall Short, 77-64

Tuesday, February 26

Buffalo, NY

7:00 pm

University of Akron

15-13

Buffalo

25-3

Akron Zips

No. 21 Buffalo

Zips Take the Battle to No. 21 Buffalo, but Fall Short, 77-64

February 26 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

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BUFFALO – The Akron men's basketball team battled No. 21 ranked Buffalo to the finish, but the Zips fell short as the Bulls closed with a 14-2 run for a 77-64 decision at Alumni Arena on Tuesday night.

Junior guard Tyler Cheese (Albany, Ga.) led the Zips' scoring with his second-consecutive 20-point effort. Cheese did most of the work in the opening frame, recording 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field which included a 4-of-4 effort from long distance. In the second half, he shot 3-of-7 and 0-of-2 from deep. Cheese added six assists, five rebounds and a steal.

Sophomore Loren Cristian Jackson (Chicago, Ill.) and junior Deng Riak (Melbourne, Australia) followed with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Jackson buried five consecutive free throws in the opening stanza, and Riak connected on 3-of-5 shots in the painted area. Jackson added two free throws in the second half along with two field goals, including a big 3-pointer down the stretch. Riak finished the game shooting 5-of-8 from the field while grabbing a team-best eight rebounds and two blocked shots.

The Bulls were paced by 25 points from Nick Perkins, who scored 13 second-half points to push Buffalo to the win. C.J. Massinburg followed with a double-double performance of 23 points and 10 rebounds. Massinburg also added a team-high six assists with a steal and a blocked shot.

Buffalo reached the scoreboard first when Massinburg buried a 3-pointer from the top of the Key, but Zips' junior Daniel Utomi (Houston, Texas) answered from the corner for three of his eight points. Massinburg followed with a second triple, but Akron answered with a 5-0 run which included a layup from Riak and three Jackson free throws. The two teams traded baskets and the game was knotted 10-10 at the first media break.

Akron used a 7-0 run to create separation on the scoreboard and held the lead until Massinburg nailed a trifecta at the 4:58 mark for a 27-26 Buffalo advantage. During the 10-minute span Cheese tallied five points while Utomi, Riak and junior Channel Banks (Las Vegas, Nev.) all added field goals. Jackson started the run with a pair of free throws.

With Akron trailing by one, sophomore Jeremy Roscoe (Chicago, Ill.) dialed in from long distance to give the lead back to the Zips 29-27, and again the two teams traded blows until Cheese lifted Akron to a 36-35 halftime advantage with a 3-pointer as time expired.

The second half was tightly played to the 10-minute mark, and Akron was whistled for eight personal fouls to that point. Despite the interruptions, the Zips maintained a one-possession lead until the 7:42 mark.

Perkins gave the Bulls a spark with four-consecutive points, two free throws and a strong move in the paint, and the Bulls 6-0 run was capped by a dunk by Jayvon Graves for a 63-59 lead with 5:17 remaining.

Akron called a timeout in an attempt to slow the momentum, and Jackson hit a corner 3-ball to quite the crowd, 63-62. However, the Bulls didn't slow down and outscored Akron the rest of the way.

After shooting 42.9 percent from the field (12-of-28) and 54.5 percent from downtown (6-of-11) in the first half, Akron finished at 39.7 percent from the floor (23-of-58) and 32.0 percent from deep (8-of-25). Meanwhile, the Bulls connected on 27-of-63 (.429) from the field and 8-of-35 (.320) from long distance

The game featured 12 lead changes and 10 tied scores.

Akron will wrap-up the regular season at home with back-to-back games. The Zips are scheduled to host Ohio on Saturday, March 2 at 2 p.m. and Bowling Green on Tuesday, March 5 at 7 p.m. for Senior Day. Fans can also follow the action on ESPN3/+, Akron-Learfield/IMG Sports Radio Network 1350 AM (WARF) in Akron (flagship). The free audio stream is available at SportsRadio1350.com, iHeart Radio, and TuneIn.com/Akron Zips.