Ali, Trimble Power Zips Past Ball State

Friday, February 19

Muncie, IN

7 PM

University of Akron

14-4,12-3MAC

Ball State

7-11,5-8MAC

Akron

Ball St.

February 19 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Ali, Trimble Power Zips Past Ball State

Follow Akron Basketball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram | Follow Coach Groce on Twitter

Box Score PDF | Game Notes PDF | CBSSN | Live Stats | TuneIn - Akron-IMG Sports Network | Akron Basketball Schedule

Muncie, Ind. – The Akron Zips scored 58 second half points fueled by the sharp shooting of sophomore Ali Ali (Kendallville, Ind.) and junior Bryan Trimble, Jr. (Kansas City, Mo.) for an 88-79 win on the road over Ball State on CBS Sports Network Friday night.

Trailing 36-30 at halftime, the Zips came out of the locker room energized as Akron made nine straight field goals. Ali and Trimble combined for five 3-pointers in the second half. Ali shot 5-of-5 from the field in the second half including a 3-of-3 effort from long distance. He led the Zips scoring efforts with 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the floor and 3-of-5 from downtown with four rebounds.

Trimble followed with 19 points and hit five triples throughout the game as five Zips scored in double digits. Senior Camron Reece (Oakland, Calif.) recorded a career-high 16 points while senior Loren Cristian Jackson (Chicago, Ill.) and sophomore Enrique Freeman (Cleveland, Ohio) added 12 points each. Jackson tallied is third double-double of the season by adding a game-high 11 assists.

During the second-half scoring outburst, Ali started the scoring with two points in the paint. Trimble hit from long distance and Ali followed with a fast break corner 3-pointer for a quick 8-0 start to the second half. At 18:47 the game was tied 38-38.

The Zips continued to attack from inside and out as Ali buried another trifecta mixed between a Freeman dunk and layup. Freeman's layin gave Akron its first lead since the 10:48 mark in the first half, 45-44 with 17:31 showing on the clock. Ali pushed the advantage to four points and Trimble followed with a deep shot for a seven-point advantage, 51-44, and a Reece dunk kept the lead at seven points, 53-46. The Zips never trailed again and led by as many as 10 points, 76-66, by the four-minute mark.

Akron shot a sizzling 73.1 percent (19-of-26 ) from the field in the final 20 minutes of play as Jackson didn't make his first field goal of the game until the 7:48 mark of the second half. It didn't seem to matter as Akron's balanced offensive attack connected at 62.5 percent rate from beyond the 3-point arc (5-of-8) with Jackson dishing out seven helpers. In Addition, the Zips were 15-of-18 from the charity stripe which was good for an 83.3 percent showing.

Defensively, Akron collected six of their nine total steals that led to 10 fast break points in the second frame and 15 for the game. Akron finished the game shooting 51.7 percent from the field (30-of-58), 45.0 percent from deep (9-of-20) and 76.0 percent from the free throw line.

Ball State edged Akron on the glass by one rebound, 33-32, and Akron won the turnover battle 12-17, collected more steals 9-5 and blocked four shots to the Cardinals zero. Freeman, who leads the Mid-American Conference in blocked shots, recorded three blocks and senior Maishe Dailey (Beachwood, Ohio) had one block and three assists.

In the first half, Akron led for the first 11 minutes, but could only push the lead to three points several times. The Cardinals used a 15-0 scoring run to establish a 13-point advantage, 26-13 with 8:58 remaining in the first half.

Zips retaliated with an 8-0 run all by Trimble. He buried a pair of long-range jumpers and a drive through the lane to bring Akron within five points, 26-21. From there, the two teams traded buckets as Ball State led 36-30 at halftime.

Three Cardinals scored in double figures as Ishmael El-Amin led with 20 points, while Brachen Hazen and K.J. Walton added 18 and 12, respectively.

With the win, Akron moved to 14-4 on the season and 12-3 in MAC play while Ball State falls to 7-11 overall and 5-8 in league play. Akron has won four straight games, including 10 of the last 11 games.

The Mid-American Conference announced an adjustment to the league schedule and the Zips game at Ohio has been rescheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 2 p.m. Fans can follow the action on 640 WHLO AM or GoZips.com.