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McNees, who scored 13 points after halftime, made all four of his shots from the field, each from 3-point distance, and all four free throws to lead the Zips (18-7, 8-3), who won their third straight and fifth in six games. UA also won on the road for the third time in a row and is 5-3 in away games this season.

Jimmy Conyers and Darryl Roberts added 11 points apiece for Akron. Zeke Marshall posted a game-high nine rebounds and four blocked shots for the Zips, who outboarded the Chippewas (11-11, 6-4) 38-35.

Jordan Bitzer scored 20 points and Robbie Harman 13 for CMU. Bitzer's 3-pointer started a 10-0 spurt that gave Central Michigan a 41-30 lead with 14:05 to play. His basket put the Chippewas up 51-46 with 2:21 left, but the Zips closed with their 12-3 rally and held their 10th opponent to 59 or fewer points this season (UA is 10-0 in those contests).

Trailing 52-48 with two minutes to go, Conyers and Chris McKnight scored inside to tie the score. McNees then converted a pair of free throws to give UA a 53-52 lead with 31 seconds remaining – its first lead of the half. Anthony "Humpty" Hitchens made two more free throws with 11 seconds left to make the final margin.

CMU led 8-7 with 11:32 before halftime, but UA used a 10-3 run to lead 17-11 seven minutes later. The Zips got three buckets from Roberts and one each from McKnight and Conyers during the rally. The Chippewas then used a 16-10 spurt to make it 27-all at the break.

Akron shot 43.2 percent (19-for-44) from the field, 40 percent (6-for-15) from 3-point range and 12-for-12 from the line. Central Michigan made 28.6 percent (18-for-63) from the field, 33.3 percent (8-for-24) from behind the arc and 50 percent (8-for-16) from the charity stripe. The Zips had 17 turnovers compared to the Chippewas' eight.

Akron plays its lone home game in a five-game stretch on Sunday, when Ohio visits Rhodes Arena for a 2 p.m. ET match up. Central Michigan gets Ohio Thursday (7 p.m.) in Athens.

Courtesy of Akron Athletics