November 5, 2024

Akron Rallies to Defeat Ohio 59-56

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CLEVELAND, OH – Stop me if you have heard this one before, but the Akron Zips will play the Kent State Golden Flashes for the MAC Tournament Championship Saturday Night from Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. The Zips used a furious second half rally and shutdown defense to defeat the Ohio Bobcats 59-56 to punch their ticket.  This is the 5th time since the tournament moved to Cleveland, that both teams will play against each other for the title and a trip to March Madness.

The Zips were led by Enrique Freeman with 24 points and 21 rebounds.  Ali Ali was steady throughout for the Zips with 16 points, with 9 of them from downtown.  The Bobcats had troubles shooting tonight, converting on only 22 of 61 shooting.  They were led by Jaylin Hunter with 17 and Miles Brown 16.

It was a defensive battle as the score was only 10-9 with a little over 8 minutes to play in the first half. Neither team was exactly lighting the world on fire, as the score held low, with the Bobcats in front 16-14 with 5:24 to go in the opening half.  This was part of a 14-6 run for the Bobcats as Akron started the game up 8-2.  The game remained tight until the Bobcats went on a late first half run to take a 23-14 lead with 2:28 to play. The Bobcats went on to hold a 26-16 lead at the break.

Akron had gone just 5 of 26 from the floor in that first half as they fell behind, the second half was a completely different story as they shot 16 of 30 in the frame while nailing 7 from beyond the arc as part of their rally to win.

The Zips were still down by 9 at 34-25 with 14:04 to play in the game when they caught fire and the comeback began to truly heat up. The Zips went on a 5-minute wild run that saw them outscore the Bobcats 18-8 with a flurry of points, to suddenly capture a 43-42.  Enrique Freeman dialed up several from deep in that run, to give the Zips full momentum!

The game remained airtight until another Zip run late in the second half, put the game away at 59-50 with only 2:41 to go.  The Bobcats scratched and clawed from there but couldn’t comeback.

Vince McKee

Vince is the Owner of KEE On Sports Media Group. A company built on the very best in sports coverage and broadcasts of High School Sports, Boxing, NPSL Soccer, and everything the sports fans of Northeast Ohio want to know about. He is the play by play man for Ohio Boxing, as well as Cleveland SC of the NPSL. Vince is also a 12x published author who has interviewed everyone from Jim Thome & Austin Carr to Bill Belichick and Frankie Edgar.

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