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Akron's Steve McNees drives around Allen Roberts. Below, Julian Mavunga tries to get to the hoop. Photos by Mike Smith.

After 55 straight games of scoring at least one trey, the RedHawks netted zero points from behind the arc Wednesday, and that ultimately played a part in a 61-56 Akron win at Millett Hall.

It was a huge game for both teams, with both immediate and longer term repercussions at stake. Akron (20-7) raised its MAC record to 10-3 with the victory, allowing it to maintain a share of first place in the MAC East. The Zips will end the regular season with a home game against co-leader Kent State March 5.

"I thought that was one of the better games we've played," said Akron coach Keith Dambrot, whose team has now won five in a row, including three on the road and a double-overtime win Sunday over Ohio.

"We played these three (road) games in a row that we could have lost all three of them, and we won all three of them," he said.

"I think it was an emotional game for both teams. Akron had to have that, and they got it," Miami head coach Charlie Coles said. "I thought it was a really  good ballgame. That's the bad part about what we do - we've got to win or lose."

Miami (11-15) could have forged a tie with Akron in second - one game behind KSU - with a RedHawks victory.

After a 20-point Akron blowout over Miami Jan. 20, Wednesday's matchup in Oxford figured to be much closer. Most statistics reaffirmed just how close the game was. Indeed, both teams had 22 field goals and Miami owned a very slight advantage in field goal percentate (42.3 percent to 41.5 percent). Akron had one more rebound and two more points (14-12) from the foul line. Four of those points came in the final 2:03 after Miami had closed to within one at 55-54.

By that juncture, Akron enjoyed the slimmest of leads in part because, while it made just 3 of 15 3-point attempts, that was three more than the RedHawks. Miami failed to make any of 15 tries. It was the first time since March 14, 2008 that a RedHawks team failed to hit at least one trey.

"Everybody seemed to miss their share," Coles said. "I suppose eight of them were pretty good shots - maybe, maybe not."

Akron opened the game with a short basket by Zeke Marshall and led throughout the first half. Hitting 50 percent (13 of 26) of its shots from the field, Akron entered intermission with a 29-27 advantage.

The RedHawks trailed by as many as seven points during the period, but an 8-2 advantage in second chance points allowed them to whittle the deficit down to two by halftime. 

Akron started to pull away early in the second half, opening up a nine point lead (42-33) following a 3-pointer by Darryl Roberts at 15:05.  However a Kenny Hayes layup and backboard-rattling dunk by Julian Mavunga started a 7-0 Miami run that fired up Miami players and fans.

The two teams slugged it out the rest of the way. Akron pushed the lead to five points twice, but MU couldn’t quite catch the Zips until Allen Roberts drove the lane for an old-fashioned 3-point play to give Miami its first lead of the game, 50-49, with 4:41 remaining.

"For about 22 minutes of that game, I thought we played about as hard as any team that I can remember us having here at Miami,” Coles said. “Now I didn’t say ‘played as good,’ (but we) played as hard.

“That intensity got really good out there for a while, and I was on cloud nine, because it was good go watch. Then, in the last five minutes, we didn’t play smart, nor did we play hard again.”

Akron, which has one of deepest and most effective “benches” in the MAC, may have had a little more in the tank coming down the stretch. With the game on the line, Akron began to come up key rebounds and loose balls. The Zips also helped themselves by creating turnovers. Akron outscored MU 12-2 off turnovers after intermission.

“That’s really how our team is built,” Dambrot said. “It’s not by design, but we just have a lot of guys that are the same, so we might as well play them.”

“As quick as we got the lead, you looked up, and they were five points ahead again,” Coles said, adding that wasn’t sure if his squad could mount another run.

“That is about as hard on the ball as I’ve ever seen Miami play us. They expended a lot of  energy defensively,” Dambrot said. “That probably affected them some, and I think Fletcher looked a little banged up to me where they couldn’t use him as much in the second half.”

A Roberts jumper at 2:03 left the RedHawks down 55-54, but Chris McKnight hit two free throws and picked up a steal before Anthony “Humpty” Hitchens scored on a back-breaking layup to put the Zips up by five with 23 seconds left in the contest. After a Hayes layup, Steve McNees completed all scoring with a pair of free throws at 0:11.

“They just had a balanced attack, and they just seemed to be getting some things done,” Coles said. “Akron’s basketball IQ is very high. That’s the only team in our league, I think, that when they come down the floor, you don’t know who they’re going to run a play for. So it makes them tougher to guard. Now we got them a couple times (too), but we didn’t hit the shot.”

Nine players scored for UA, with Brett Mcknight (13) and Chris McKnight (12) hitting double figures. Both players came off the bench, which outscored Miami 32-16.

Two RedHawks made it into double figures. Hayes hit 7 of 15 from the field while scoring a game-high 16 points. Fletcher made 5 of 6 while tallying 12 points in 28 minutes of action.

“We wanted to stay (tight on) Hayes, because we knew at the end, if he’s a little tired, maybe he won’t make as many plays,” Dambrot said. “We didn’t do a terrific job on Kenny Hayes, but he certainly didn’t win the game for them.”

Both teams will take a break from MAC games Saturday as they participate in ESPNU Bracket Buster action. Akron travels to VCU (4 p.m.) while Miami hosts Southeast Missouri State (2:30 p.m.).