by CLEVELAND, OH – Two programs who know each other well hooked it up for a chance to go on to the MAC Championship game as Kent State took on Akron Friday night. In the end, it was Akron prevailing 75-68 to advance to the MAC Title Game tomorrow night versus Toledo who won earlier in the night over UMASS 72-62.
This was the 8th straight win for Akron over Kent in this heated series between the two rivals. The Zips were led in scoring with 18 each from Tavari Johnson and Shammah Scott. Evan Mahaffey balled out with 16 while Bowen Hardman had 9.
For Kent State, they were led by Rob Whaley Jr with 15 while St. Ignatius graduate and Golden Flash freshman Quinn Woidke put up 12. Woidke was also 6 of 6 from the line which kept the Golden Flashes in it late.
The Golden Flashes rallied back from a 42-28 halftime deficit to cut it to 47-45 only 4 minutes into the second half. The Flashes began the second half with a wild 17-5 run to get the game close after Akron dominated the first half. It was a mixture of hot shooting from the three point line and foul line to draw close.
The Golden Flashes went on to cut it to one before a remarkable fade away three pointer from Scott pumped it back out to 4 at 50-46. The Zips settled it down a bit from there and kept the lead at 4 with 12:19 to play in the contest.
A Hardman three for Akron extended their lead back out to 7 at 64-57 with 4:58 to play as the crowd came unglued upon making it. The gamed remained tight with the Zips up 65-61 with 1:58 left to play.
A Scott three for the Zips out of the timeout kicked it back up to 7 at 68-61 with 90 seconds left to play. They hung on from there for the 75-68 win.
