Akron Zips Earn 20th Win on the Road at Ball State

Tuesday, March 1

7 PM

University of Akron

20-9,13-6MAC

Ball State

13-16,8-10MAC

Akron

Ball St.

Akron Zips Earn 20th Win on the Road at Ball State

March 01 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Akron Zips Earn 20^th Win on the Road at Ball State
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MUNCIE, Ind. – The Akron Zips recoded the 20^th win of the season and moved to 8-4 on the road, defeating Ball State 79-60 at Worthen Arena on Tuesday night.

Junior Xavier Castaneda (Chicago, Ill.) led Akron with 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field, including a 5-of-10 effort from deep. Sophomore Enrique Freeman (Cleveland, Ohio) followed with his 16^th double-double performance of the year, collecting 18 points with 16 rebounds, while sophomores Ali Ali (Kendallville, Ind.) and Mikal Dawson (Huntington, W.Va.) added 16 and 11 points, respectively. Dawson registered a career-high four steals.

Akron (20-9, 13-6 MAC) used a smothering defense to take a 6-0 lead and cause five Ball State (13-16, 8-10 MAC) turnovers in the opening 6:30. The Zips never trailed and led from the opening tap as sophomore Greg Tribble (Cincinnati, Ohio) netted Akron's first points.

Akron extended the lead to 22-10 and continued to play swarming defense for a 12-point advantage by the 7:49 mark. During that span Dawson knocked down a pair of trifectas and had three steals.

Akron went six minutes without scoring a still led by double digits until Ball State connected with a free throw with 2:50 left in the first half, but Ali quickly answered and pushed the lead back to 11 points, 24-13. Zips closed out the half with a 32-20 lead.

In the second half, Akron stretched the lead to as many as 21 points, shooting 55.6 percent from the floor (24-of-55) and 53.8 percent from deep (7-of-13) in the second stanza.

For the game, Akron converted 20-of-25 free throws to finish 80.0 percent from the charity stripe. The Zips knocked down 10-of-11 bonus buckets in the first half.

Tyler Cochran led the Cardinals in scoring with 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as Ball State edged the Zips on the glass 37-31. Demarius Jacobs added 10 points.

UP NEXT
Akron returns to James A. Rhodes Arena for the final game of regular season play against Central Michigan on Friday, March 4 on ESPN3. Fans can also follow the action on Akron Sports Radio Network on WHLO 640 AM with Dave Skoczen (PxP) and Joe Dunn (analyst) or live stats on GoZips.com.