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Brothers Chris (30) and Brett (23) McKnight poured in 27 points

Akron (15-9,8-4) saw its season-best seven game winning streak come to a halt Sunday night at Northern Illinois.  

But in this battle of Mid-American Conference East Division powers, it was a typical slugfest highlighted by defense and timely shooting by the Zips in the second half to pick up the victory and avenge a 64-51 overtime loss to the Redhawks in the conference opener for both schools back on January 10^th in Oxford. 

“It was a typical Miami-Akron game,” Zips head coach Keith Dambrot said afterwards. “It is such a grind … Our guys hate what they do to us and they hate what we do to them.” 

The win moved the Zips into a tie for second place in the MAC East with Miami (15-9,8-4), Kent State, and Bowling Green. The trio now sit one game behind division leading Buffalo after the Flashes' win over Ohio Tuesday night, combined with the Falcons upsetting the Bulls. 

“We could not get anything going,” Miami head coach Charlie Coles said afterwards. “Give credit to Akron for that. I thought we had three big mistakes late, but when (Anthony) Hitchens hit that three I thought that ended all hope.” 

Junior Chris McKnight led Akron with a career best 18 points with 16 of them coming in the second half while freshman Hitchens added 12. 

“Our best chance to win is to throw the ball inside. Chris (McKnight) stepped up and made some big plays tonight,” Dambrot stated. 

“I thought Chris McKnight would have a good game tonight,” Coles lamented. “Before the game, I thought our big guys (Tyler Dierkers and Adam Fletcher) are not as mobiles as he is.” 

Sophomore Nick Winbush led the Redhawks with a career-best 16 points. The native of Shaker Heights, Ohio, who was playing in front of his family and friends, surpassed his previous high of 11 earlier in the season at West Virginia 

Michael Bramos, Miami’s leading scorer and coming into this week’s action the third leading scorer in the MAC,  added 12. But the defense by Nate Linhart and Jimmy Conyers kept the senior forward in check until the dying moments of the second half. 

“Nobody bottles him up,” Dambrot said of Bramos. “He is a really good player, but Nate (Linhart) and Jimmy (Conyers) did a great job especially when he drove the ball.”  

Coles added “Linhart has been a thorn in his (Bramos) side his entire career.”

Miami has lost two of its last three games after a four-game win streak and were held to its second lowest point total of the season. 

To say that the first half was a struggle would be being very polite. 

“I thought we missed a bunch of open ones early,” Dambrot exclaimed.

Neither team scored in the first three minutes. After Chris McKnight scored the opening point of the game with a free throw, Miami then opened a pair of three point leads. 

In fact, neither team got to double digits until Miami’s Nick Winbush hit a three-pointer at the 8:32 mark, giving the Redhawks their largest lead of the half at 12-7.

The two teams then exchanged the lead with Akron holding a football like score at intermission, 17-14.

Why the low scoring? Both teams shot a combined 11-for-51 from the field (3-for-17 from three point range). In addition, Miami did not help themselves, turning the ball over 12 times. 

“Everyone knows Akron and Miami will grind it out and club each other on the head 65 times and whoever scores 40 wins,” Dambrot said jokingly.

At the start of the second half, Miami was able to tie the game twice, the last being 19-19 with 18:46 remaining on a Dierkers layup. 

The Zips then scored seven unanswered points to take a 26-19 lead with 13:04 remaining on a Chris McKnight layup.

It would be a lead Akron would not relinquish. 

The lead grew to nine on two occasions the last being 36-27 with 7:14 remaining on a Brett McKnight layup. Miami then closed the deficit to three with 4:57 on a jumper by Eric Pollitz. 

Actually a jumper would not be the correct description.  

With the shot clock running down, Pollitz ,from his backside at the free throw line, threw up a desperation shot that went in just as the clock expired. 

“They (Zips announcers Steve French and Joe Dunn) asked me on the radio (after the game) if I was thinking of the MAC Tournament game at that point. I wasn’t, but I was thinking to myself ‘boy if he makes that, we are in trouble,” Dambrot remarked. 

Dambrot was referring to the 2007 MAC Tournament Championship Game in Cleveland between the two teams when Miami’s Doug Penno hit a three-pointer at the buzzer. The play was reviewed for an extensive period before determining that the basket was good and Miami won the game and went onto the NCAA Tournament. 

It would be the closest Miami would get for the remainder of the game. 

Akron then went on a 9-2 run to open a 10-point lead, 45-35, with 2:01 remaining on a three by Hitchens. 

The Zips' largest lead of the contest came in the final moments when they went up 53-42 on a Chris McKnight free throw before going on for the nine point victory. 

Akron shot a sizzling 70.6% in the second half (12-for-17) ending the game at 40% while Miami was kept in the deep freeze hitting just 8-for-24 (33.3%) in the second half and was held to just 27.7% from the floor over the 40 minutes. 

Akron narrowly won the rebound battle 33-32 but Miami turned the ball over 19 times.

When asked about Charlie Coles, Dambrot stated “Charlie coaches for the pure enjoyment and he is an unbelievable coach. He is still so competitive and he just loves to be out there.” 

Coles was asked about the tightening of the East Division race, he remarked “Its getting really interesting now. We have so much balance … teams in other leagues want in so they can tie for second.” 

Both teams, along with the rest of MAC, take a break from conference play to participate in the ESPNU Bracketbusters on Saturday.  

Akron travels to northwest Indiana to face the Valparaiso Crusaders out of the Horizon League while Miami travels to Evansville to face the Purple Aces out of the Missouri Valley.  

NOTES: The game was the 40^th in the all-time series with Miami holding a 23-17 advantage but the Zips have won three of the last four and are 10-6 in games played in The Rubber City .. Zips head coach Keith Dambrot improves his record to 6-9 lifetime against Miami (6-5 against Charlie Coles) … Coles is 16-13 lifetime against Akron .. .Akron is 63-7 overall and 31-3 in MAC play in the Keith Dambrot era … Chris McKnight-AKR has scored in double figures in 11 of his last 12 games..Miami’s 44 points was the second lowest of the season (40 at Dayton on January 6^th) and their lowest in MAC play since February 11,2004 at Akron (44) … Michael Bramos-MIA has scored in double digits in 22 of Miami’s 24 games in 2008-09