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AKRON, OH – Coming into their game Tuesday night at Rhodes Arena, the Akron Zips had won six straight games and 10 of their last 11. The Rhode Island Rams arrived with seven consecutive wins.
In the end, it was the team from the Atlantic-10 Conference that got the victory, wearing the Zips down with their athleticism in the final 10 minutes of the contest to post a 68-63 victory.
Akron (10-4) absorbs just their second home loss of the season. It opened the 2009-10 campaign with a loss to Austin Peay in the first round of the Glenn Wilkes Classic and then rattled off six straight home-court victories.
“I thought we out-toughed them in the first half but, when it mattered in the second half, they out-toughed us, especially on the backboards” Zips Head Coach Keith Dambrot said after the game. “You can tell they (Rhode Island) had won a lot of games, because when the game mattered, they made plays and we didn’t.”
Rhode Island (12-1) was paced by senior forward Lamonte Ulmer, who led all scorers with 20 points, along with 11 rebounds, Delroy James added 19 and eight boards, while the Rams leading scorer, Keith Cothran, scored 12.
“It was a hard fought game that went back and forth. I think the difference in the game was (that) we rebounded the ball better in the second half” Rams Head Coach Jim Baron said afterward. “We also made some shots from the outside in the second half, and we also did a real good job defensively in the second half”
The Zips had a balanced scoring attack, led by junior forward Brett McKnight, who had 13. Nikola Cvetinovic came off the bench to score 12, while Jimmy Conyers pulled down ten rebounds.
After Akron scored the initial basket of the contest, the Rams ran off nine consecutive points to grab an early lead.
The Zips later went on a 15-2 run as part of a 22-5 spurt to take their largest lead of the half, 28-19, at the 4:23 mark on a Brett McKnight layup. Akron matched that margin at the 1:09 mark and went into halftime with a seven-point advantage at 36-29.
Akron’s defense held Rhode Island without a field goal for over 13 minutes until Cothran’s layup in the closing seconds of the half.
“Akron is a great basketball team. They create problems for you (matchup-wise)” Baron said. “The game was a little bit of a chess match. It kept going back and forth, but we were fortunate to come out on top”
When the second half began, the Rams started to press Akron in the front court, and the pressure allowed Rhode Island to close the deficit to three on two occasions - the last being 38-35 with 18:11 remaining on layup my Marquis Jones.
The Zips pushed the lead out to nine (48-39) with 14:35 remaining on two Ronnie Steward free throws before going through a stretch of missed shots and turnovers.
Rhode Island tied the game 52-52 with 9:21 remaining on a three-pointer by Delroy James and took its first lead since midway through the first half, 57-54, thanks to a jumper from reserve Orion Outerbridge.
Akron regained the advantage 58-57 at the 4:44 mark on a Chris McKnight layup, but that would be the Zips final lead of the contest.
James hit a three on Rhode Island’s next possession and the Rams never looked back as they closed the game outscoring the Zips 11-5 en route to the victory.
“We had our chances to win, but you can’t make the mistakes we did,” Dambrot said. “You can’t give up second shots (and) air-ball on a couple of three-pointers. We just didn’t shoot ball well in the second half.”
Akron turned the ball over 16 times, which led to 21 Rhode Island points. The Rams also had 14 second chance points to Akron’s 10.
Rhode Island was 20-for-25 from the free throw line, while Akron managed just 11-for-18. The Zips won the rebound battle 45-39, but gave up 16 offensive rebounds to the Rams.
“I thought Lamonte (Ulmer) played his best basketball of the year.” Baron said.
“He played with great energy and really attacked the basket and rebounded the ball well,” Dambrot adding, “I thought (Delroy) James killed us when it mattered”
Akron now prepares for its Mid-American Conference opener at home Saturday night against the Bowling Green Falcons in a rematch of the 2009 MAC Tournament Semi-final in which the Zips used a big second half to register a 63-55 victory.
NOTES: The game was just the fourth in the series between the two teams, with the series now tied at 2-2. The teams met last season in Kingston with Rhode Island prevailing 79-50.
- Rhode Island is 14-7 lieftime against Mid-American Conference opposition
- Brett McKnight-AKR scored his fourth consecutive game in double figures
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