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RICHMOND, VA – The University of Akron men's basketball team suffered a 70-53 loss to Virginia Commonwealth Saturday at Verizon Wireless Arena in a non-conference game as part of ESPNU BracketBusters.
After trailing 34-22 at halftime, Akron (20-8) cut the lead to 43-39 with 13:12 remaining on a 3-pointer by Steve McNees, but VCU (19-7) put together a 13-5 run and pushed its lead to 56-44 with 7:42 to play. The Zips, who had a five-game win streak end, got no closer than 10 points the rest of the way.
McNees and Anthony "Humpty" Hitchens led UA with nine points apiece, while Jimmy Conyers posted a team-high nine rebounds, along with six points and a game-high-tying three steals for the Zips.
Larry Sanders scored 15 points and Brandon Rozzell added 13 for VCU, helping the Rams extend their regular-season non-conference home winning streak to 16 games. Sanders also tallied three blocked shots.
VCU shot 58.3 percent (28-of-48) from the field, while Akron made 31.8 percent (21-of-66) of its shots from the floor. The Rams held a 39-35 margin on the boards and had 13 turnovers, compared to nine by the Zips. VCU was also on the winning end of a 44-24 margin in points in the paint.
Akron resumes Mid-American Conference play on Wednesday, when Buffalo visits Rhodes Arena for a 7 p.m. ET contest. The game will be televised by FS Ohio. With three regular-season games remaining, the Zips sit in a first-place tie with Kent State atop the MAC East Division standings.
Courtesy of UA Athletics |
