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Steve McNees is pursued by Joe Jakubowski / Photo: Nate Thompson

Akron (22-12, 10-6) threatened to run away with the game in the first half, taking a 28-15 lead in the final minute of the half on the heels of a 7-0 run. An Otis Polk lay in made the score 28-17 at the half. Early in the second half, however, BG coach Louis Orr switched from the Falcons' traditional 2-3 zone to a man-to-man defense.

"They came at us pretty good (in the second half)," Akron coach Keith Dambrot said. "I thought something would be different."

As a team, the Falcons (19-13, 11-5) shot just 20% from the field in the first half and missed all six of their three-point attempts. Leading scorer Nate Miller was 1-7 from the field in the first half, but scored a layup on the first possession of the second half and hit the team's first triple a minute later.

"We had a ball game," Dambrot said.

From there, the Akron lead fluctuated from 6-9 points. After a Steve McNees jumper grew Akron's lead to 40-34 at the 10:38 mark, Bowling Green launched a 9-0 run to take a 43-40 lead. Darryl Clements had 3 points and an assist during the run.

"We fought back," Orr said.

Akron immediately regrouped. Brett McKnight hit 1 of 2 attempts at the free throw line in the ensuing possession, rebounded a Polk miss, then hit a three-pointer on the other end to give Akron a 44-43 lead it would not surrender.

Nate Miller had a career-high 27 points Photo: Nate Thompson

Akron dominated Bowling Green on the glass, holding a 43-26 edge. Akron collected 11 offensive rebounds, many of them at critical moments.

"Really, the number and the timing of their rebounds hurt us," Miller said. "They were getting a lot of rebounds off free throws."

Miller set a career high with 27 points, shooting 10-16 in the second half. The rest of the Falcons shot 9-36 for the game. Akron attempted 21 of their 23 free throws in the second half, while BG only attempted 2 after getting 10 tries in the first half.

The Zips had a balanced attack. Nate Linhart had 11 points and 11 rebounds, as well as making free throws down the stretch to salt the game away. Brett McKnight scored 14, Darryl Roberts had 12 and Nikola Cvetinovic scored 9. Chris McKnight secured 14 rebounds.

"They played a physical game," Orr said. "We knew we had to play a physical game, we knew we had to rebound. We didn't bring that mentality." 

The one weakness in Akron's game was turnovers. They surrendered the ball 14 times, which Bowling Green turned into 13 points, 10 of those in the second half.

Akron will try to earn its first bid to the NCAA tournament tonight at 8 p.m. Buffalo and Akron split the season series, with the Bulls winning 63-61 at Akron and Akron defeating Buffalo at Buffalo 62-57. The Bulls lead the conference in offensive rebounding and rebounding margin.

"We just have to scrap," Dambrot said of the Bulls' rebounding prowess. "We've improved. We have a pretty small team... but we've found a way."

Both Dambrot and Witherspoon know of championship heartbreak. Witherspoon and the Bulls lost the 2005 championship on a tip-in in overtime, while Dambrot saw his title taken away when Miami banked in a buzzer-beating three in the 2007 MAC tournament.

The finals will be Akron's fourth game in five days and fifth in seven. In addition, the Zips have had to play the late game in each round, while Buffalo has had earlier games. Dambrot said fatigue is not an excuse.

"It's my job to make sure it doesn't affect us," he said. "We have good depth. We have good heart."

Dambrot also said he and his team will be ready for the Bulls.

"There's not gonna be any surprises," he said.