by It was another Tuesday night for MACtion. This edition came from Akron, Ohio between the Akron Zips and the Ball State Cardinals. The Zips came into the game undefeated in the MAC with an overall record of 19-5. While the Cardinals came in at 4-5 in the MAC, with an overall record of 10-11.
The game started off rather sloppy, especially on the Akron side. They started off 0-for-4 from the field before they found their first basket, and they trailed Ball State as much as 6-2.
But by time the first media timeout rolled around, the Zips had it all tied up at 6 a piece with 14:42 left to play in the first half.
Ball State came to play as they would continue to match the Zips for everything they had to offer. Even after back-to-back 3’s by Sharron Young giving Akron a little spark, the Cardinals would respond right back with a bucket of their own.
The Zips had a 17-16 lead thanks to the help of three 3-pointers with 10:35 left to play in the first half.
Ball State would get a lead back up to 26-23 with a chance to make it a two possession game. But the Zips would continue to respond with their three point shooting mainly from Amani Lyles and Sharron Young. As Young was continuing to steal the show as he started off 3-for-3 from deep after tying the game up at 26.
It would continue to be a back-and-fourth game as each team would continue to play their own game. Ball State was dominating inside the paint, while Akron was shooting the three ball well. With 3:14 left in the first half, this game was all squared up at 30.
The Akron home crowd finally got going thanks to, you guessed it, Sharrron Young. As he started things off with an inbound lob pass to Marvin Muslime-Kamali, followed by a layup from Young himself to give the Zips a 36-35 lead. Young was leading the way with 11 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists at this point.
Overall, the first half may have came as a surprise to most as Akron had just a 38-36 lead at halftime. Keep in mind that the Zips were coming into the game as -14.5 point favorites and a 10-0 home record.
The second half started off much of the same. As both teams continued to respond to what each other had to offer. At the under-16 media timeout, it was all tied up at 46 with 15:53 left to play.
It was long overdue, but the Akron Zips little run finally came. As Sherrod Young would give Akron their biggest lead of the night at 56-52 with 12:44 left to play in the game.
You also have to thank star red-shirt Junior, Nate Johnson who finally got things going himself after a slow start in the first half.
Following the timeout, Akron went on a 10-7 run giving them their biggest lead of the game at 66-59. But Ball State still would not quit as by the under-8 media timeout, the Zips lead was cut back down to six at 68-62.
In fact, the Cardinals kept it going and had the Zips lead down to as less as 68-66. But following an Akron basket and Ball State turnover, the Zips had their lead back up to eight, at 74-66 after going on a 6-0 run of their own.
It ended up being a tale of two halves for the Akron Zips as they completely flipped the switch in the second half. The Zips would go on to outscore the Cardinals 42-33. Akron also raised their shooting percentage from 45% to 73% which was the biggest reason why they were able to pull away late.
Akron ended the game on a 13-9 run and came out with the win, 81-73. The Zips continued their perfect record at home and in the MAC thanks to four different players scoring double figures.
They were led by Sherrod Young’s 18 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assisists performance. While Nate Johnson tallied 16 points and 1 rebound making it his ninth straight game scoring in double digits. Finally, you can’t forget about Shammah Scott and Amani Lyles who had 13 points and 12 points respectively.
As for Ball State, they were led by Jermahri Hill who had 19 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists.
You can next check out the MAC on Saturday as they are set to meet with the Sun Belt Conference in the MAC-SBC challenge.
