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Enrique Freeman would give his Akron Zips a surge of excitement on the first play of the game as he would slam one home. VonCameron Davis and the rest of the Golden Flashes would take that personally.
A 11 to one run would give the Golden Flashes a head starts with a solid lead. Ali Ali, the Sophomore sharpshooter for Akron hit a three to end the Flashes run.
After a few turnovers from the Flashes, the Zips would capitalize and take the lead from a Xavier Castaneda three. Kent would respond with a three of their own, this lead wouldn’t last as Akron would tie it up with a pair of free throws from Freeman.
As the lead will bounce back and forth the Zips would go on the run thanks to a defensive trap. Transition offensive and the scoring ability from Castaneda would give the Zips a near double digit lead.
The smothering defense from Akron would swing the momentum in their favor. Kent State failed to get shots up in multiple possessions due to the Zips defensive trap. This trap would give the Kent state back court issues for the entire half.
11 first half turnovers would plague the Flashes; Akron would hold the conference player of the to only three first half points. This would make Justyn Hamilton the leading scorer for the Flashes with just seven points.
Ali Ali was the leader for the Zips with nine points Freeman and Castaneda would be right behind him with six points apiece.
At half the Akron Zips hold a 34-25 lead over the Kent State Golden Flashes
Kent State came out of the gates hot forcing an Akron timeout. Points from Davis, Hamilton, and Carry cut into a nine-point deficit to just one early in the second half.
Garvin Clarke and Castaneda hit back-to-back threes that took all momentum back from the Flashes. Akron wouldn’t look back as they would try and run away with the lead.
With 9:29 left in the game Akron would see it’s lead grow by 13 with a score of 52-39. It would only increase from there.
With under three minutes left Kent State would cut the deficit by 12, but Akron could do wrong as Enrique Freeman seemed nearly unguidable. As we approached the finale buzzer Akron would be in full protection mode.
With two minutes left The Akron fans counted down as they would see their team advance to the big dance. With a score of 75-55 Akron will punch their ticket to the NCAA tournament.
When asked about the mentality of the team when they saw the gauntlet of a tournament schedule, Xavier Castaneda said “we just took it one game at time”
Akron’s Coach John Groce gave credit to his team’s high intensity for the 19 turnovers his team forced against the Flashes.
Enrique Freeman was not just the star of the game but star of the tournament as he led his team 23 points. Xavier Castaneda and Ali Ali were also big contributors with 15 points to their name.
Coach Groce and the Zips will wait tomorrow night to on selection Sunday to see where they land.
