by The Zips led from start to finish in a dominating 100-90 victory over Toledo tonight at Rocket Arena. They now advance to take on the winner of Kent State vs Miami a little bit later tonight. The Zips were led by Nate Johnson who finished with a commanding 31 points while his teammates Tavari Johnson and Isaiah Gray each scored 15 and Shamma Scott had 14. Rounding out the scoring for Akron was Amani Lyles with 12.
The Rockets spread it around it nicely as Seth Hubbard led them with 28 as Sam Lewis poured in 23 and Javan Simmons had 18. Also scoring regularly for the Rockets was Sonny Wilson with 16.
Akron did their damage from the lines once again as they went 10 of 18 from beyond the three point arc as well as 26 of 33 from the charity stripe. No surprise, it was Nate Johnson doing the bulk of the damage as he had 9 points from deep and 8 from the foul line.
Nate Johnson hit a wide open 3 for the Zips, seconds into the game and the Zips were rolling from there. Moments later it was Seth Wilson sinking one from deep, and just two possessions into the game it was 6-2. The Zips were just getting started however as on their very next possession, it was another 3 being drained, this time by Isiah Gray, and just like that, it was Zips 9, Rockets 2, just 90 seconds into the game. About two minutes later a three ball from Tavari Johnson extended the lead to 14-4 Rockets with 16:11 still to play in the first half.
Toledo worked hard to cut into it from there and did so, shortening the distance to 6 points by the 10:35 mark. They got big shots from Sam Lewis and Javan Simmons to keep them hanging around. The problem was the red-hot start from long range for Akron at this point, they had already sunk 5 of 6 from behind the arc by this point. It remained a six-point marker as we hit the 7:52 mark. The game went to half with the Zips up by a score of 52-41.
The first part of the second half was marred with foul trouble as both teams reached the bonus with 11:15 still to play in the game and Akron up 69-63. Toledo did everything they could for awhile but still couldn’t cut it down from there, still trailing 79-70 at the 7:03 mark. Every time it appeared Toledo could pull closer, Nate Johnson or another Zip would hit from deep, and It was slowly over from there as Akron cruised to the 100- 90 victory.
