Zips Win Four Straight with 79-68 Triumph at Western Michigan

Saturday, January 23

Kalamazoo, MI

5 PM

University of Akron

8-3,6-2MAC

Western Michigan

2-9,1-5MAC

Akron

Western Mich.

Zips Win Four Straight with 79-68 Triumph at Western Michigan

January 23 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Zips Win Four Straight with 79-68 Triumph at Western Michigan

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KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Eight Days. Four Games. Four Wins. The Akron Zips used a second-half surge from senior Loren Cristian Jackson (Chicago, Ill.) and a collective effort of defense and toughness to limit the Western Michigan Broncos 30 points en route to a 79-68 victory at Read Fieldhouse on Saturday evening.

Jackson scored 22 points and dished out four assists in the second half to lift Akron to the win. He finished the game with 32 points and six assists, his fourth 30-plus point effort of the season. Jackson provided the initial spark as a result of a seven-point deficit in the first half, taking the first two possessions of the second stanza straight to the rim. He scored 11 of the Zips 15 points while feeding sophomore Ali Ali (Kendallville, Ind.) an alley-oop. Senior Camron Reece (Oakland, Calif.) added a pair of free throws and the game was tied 46 -46 at the 12:28 mark.

The Broncos answered with a layup, but senior Maishe Dailey (Beachwood, Ohio) buried a 3-pointer from the left wing to give Akron its first lead (49-48) since 2:20 in the first half. The Zips never trailed again as Jackson provided the assist to Dailey and went on to score 11 additional points.

Sophomore Mikal Dawson (Huntington, W.Va.) played a vital role in the Zips offensive outburst, injecting a pair of field goals and a triple for seven points. Dawson finished the game with a career-high 13 points and three rebounds, one for a crucial bucket. Sophomore Enrique Freeman (Cleveland, Ohio) added to the energy and controlled the glass for Akron, collecting a team-high 10 rebounds and notching nine points.

The Zips led by as many as 14 points after a 10-0 run made it 60-50 with 10 minutes left to play. Akron scored 48 points in the second half on 52 percent shooting from the floor (13-of-25), including a 33.3 percent effort from deep (4-of-12) and 81.8 percent from the charity stripe (18-of-22). Jackson, Dailey, Dawson and junior Bryan Trimble, Jr. (Kansas City, Mo.) all made 3-pointers during that stretch while Jackson went 11-of-12 from 6the free throw line and 13-of-14 for the game.

in the first half, Akron shot 41.7 percent from the field (10-of-24), 33.3 percent from downtown (6-of-18) and just 55.6 from the free throw line (5-of-9).

The Broncos built a deven-point (38-31) first half advantage on 55.6 shooting from the floor (15-of-27) and 37.5 from long distance (3-of-8) and 71.4 percent from the free throw line (5-of-7).

Greg lee led the Broncos with 22 points and Adrian Martin notched 11 in defeat.

The Zips will be back in action on Tuesday, Jan. 26 to cap five games in 11 days, hosting Eastern Michigan at James A. Rhodes Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Fans can follow the action on ESPN3/+, EHLO 640 a.m. or Live State on GoZips.com.