Zips Comeback Falls Short at Buffalo, 80-78

Tuesday, March 2

Buffalo, NY

2 PM

University of Akron

Buffalo

March 02 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Zips Comeback Falls Short at Buffalo, 80-78

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BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Akron Zips fell behind by as many as 22 points in the second half against Buffalo and battled back to a one possession game, but fell on the road 80-78 to the Bulls on Tuesday afternoon.

Senior Loren Cristian Jackson (Chicago, Ill.) finished with a game-high 27 points, including 11 of the last 15 points and nine points in the final 35 seconds in a wild finish at Alumni Area.

The Zips (14-7, 12-6 MAC) used a series of runs starting at the 11:40 mark as senior Maishe Dailey (Beachwood, Ohio) buried a wing 3-pointer which sparked a 10-1 run by the Zips. Dailey's triple reduced Buffalo's largest lead of the game, 58-36. The Bulls (13-7, 11-5 MAC) split a pair of free throws and the Zips followed with seven unanswered points.

Junior Michael Wynn (Albany, N.Y.) followed with a triple, while Jackson added a layup and freshman Garvin Clarke (Euclid, Ohio) cashed in with two free throws, 59-46. After a Buffalo 3-pointer, Clarke connected with a layin and Buffalo pushed the lead back to 17 points, 65-48.

The Zips responded with an 11-2 scoring burst as sophomore Enrique Freeman (Cleveland, Ohio) pulled down an offensive rebound and finished with two points. Sophomore Mikal Dawson (Huntington, W.Va.) followed with an old-fashioned 3-point play, his second of the game, and freeman offered a dunk and a layin on consecutive possessions. Jackson capped the run with a layup after a Freeman defensive board, reducing the deficit to eight points, 67-59 with 5:45 left to play.

Again Buffalo pushed the lead back to double-digits (13 points), but the Zips rattled-off
another 8-1 attack as Wynn drove the lane and finished with a reverse layin. He added two more paint points and Jackson and Clark went back-to-back with layins. Akron trailed 73-67 with 1:38 showing on the clock.

Buffalo split two free throws and Jackson buried his first of three triples to finish the game, cutting the Bulls advantage to four, 74-70. The Zips were forced to foul. Buffalo made both free throws and Clarke buried two for the Zips before Jackson unleashed another triple.

With eight seconds left on the clock and the Zips down four, 79-75, Buffalos split two additional free throws and Jackson connected with the final bucket of the game from long distance, 80-78.

The bulls used a 10-0 run in the first half for a 25-15 advantage, and the Bulls by as many as 15 points before the Zips were able to cut into the lead, 36-21. Akron scored four quick points to cause a UB timeout 25-36. The bulls entered the final bucket of the half for a 39-25 halftime advantage.

The Zips finished the first half just 2-of-14 (.143) from deep and 10-of-32 (.313) from the floor and 3-of-4 (.750) from the free throw line. The Bulls were perfect from the charity stripe on five attempts and shot 15-of-36 (.417) from the field and 4-of-9 (.444) from deep.

Freeman recorded his fourth double-double of the season with a game-high 12 rebounds and 11 points, Wynn and Clarke set career-highs with 11 and 10, respectively.

Josh Mballa led the Bulls with 15 points and nine rebounds as four Bulls scored in double figures, including a double-double effort from Jayvon Graves with 13 points and 10 boards.

The Zips will be back at James A. Rhodes Arena for Senior Night on Friday, March 5 against Miami. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. and fans can follow the action on ESPN3, WHLO 640 AM of GoZips.com.