 AKRON 87, ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 60 It was the fourth victory in five games for the Zips (8-5), who opened a four-game homestand with a decisive win.
“I was pleased. I thought we did some good things.” Dambrot said after the game. “We have a lot of room to grow still. Sometimes you have to go backwards before you can go forwards.”
BALANCED SCORING
The Zips used a balanced scoring attack as five players reached double figures, led by junior Rob McClanahan with 17 points and freshman guard Alex Abreu, who had a career-high 16.
UA finished the month of December with a 6-3 record, playing seven of those games on the road. The victories included wins over Detroit (pre-season favorite to win the Horizon League), Arkansas-Little Rock and Stetson (last week at the Las Vegas Hoops Classic). Akron also gave nationally-ranked Minnesota all they could handle before falling the final minutes in the Twin Cities.
“We went though a tough road stretch” McClanahan said. “It is nice to play at home in front of our home fans. They always support us well.”
“We’ve played a tough schedule. We’ve been all over the board, but you can see us making some improvement.” Dambrot said.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff (0-12) finished its non-conference schedule winless for the second consecutive season. Guard Sevalance Townsend led UA-PB with 14 points and seven rebounds.
The visitors from the SWAC held a pair of one-point leads in the first three minutes of the contest before UA went on a 20-7 spurt to open a 12-point advantage 25-13 at the 9:32 mark on a layup by sophomore Zeke Marshall.
UAPB countered with a 12-2 run to close the deficit to 27-25 at the 6:32 mark on a three-pointer from the top of the key by Townsend.
It would be the closest the Golden Lions would get for the remainder of the game.
PULLING AWAY
UA outscored Pine Bluff 21-6 to open the largest lead of the first half (48-31) at the 1:38 mark on a left-wing jumper by Darryl Roberts The hosts went into halftime with a 14-point advantage at 50-36.
In the first 20 minutes the Zips shot a touch below 50 percent from the field (19-for-40), went 7-for-16 from beyond the three-point arc, and held a narrow 21-18 rebounding edge.
The second half was all Akron as the Zips’ lead grew to as much as 35 points - 85-50 with 3:44 remaining on a three from the left arc by Abreu - before winning by 27 at the final buzzer.
When asked about the freshman guard, McClanahan said “He’s a great floor leader. He gets a lot of penetration (to the basket). It was like a win-win situation when he came into the lineup with his penetration and to get Steve (senior guard McNees) more shots.”
The Zips have one final non-conference affair before MAC play begins on January 8. They meet Oral Roberts of the Summit League Monday in a final Las Vegas Hoops Classic contest.
UPON FURTHER REVIEW
KEY MOMENT: With Akron holding a slim 27-25 lead at the 6:32 mark of the first half, the Zips outscored the Golden Lions 21-6 over the next 5:04 to open their largest lead of the first half 48-31 and were never headed.
STAR OF THE GAME: ALEX: ABREU-AKRON. The freshman from Bayamon, Puerto Rico scored 16 points going 5-for-9 from the field (3-of-5 from three-point range) with three assists and five steals. Since Keith Dambrot made Abreu a starter before the Detroit game on December 1st, Akron has gone 6-3.
KEY STAT OF THE GAME: 1) Akron had five players in double figures for the first time this season. 2) Sophomore center Zeke Marshall had three blocked shots after being shutout in their last game (69-61 loss to Miami–FLA). 3) Akron turned the ball over just seven times in the game.
NOTES: This was the second lifetime meeting between the two schools with UA prevailing 68-65 at the JAR on November 27,2009…Brett McKnight-AKR passed the 900-point plateau for his career scoring 11 points off the bench…Brett McClanahan-AKR has double-digit scoring in the last five games…Alex Abreu-AKR has hit double digits in three of his last four games…Quincy Diggs-AKR a season-high 10 points for the transfer from the University of New Orleans…Zips used their entire roster for the second time this season (the other was the season opener against Division III Millikin on November 12)…In their 2010-11 opponents, Akron has played four that were in the post season last March - three in the NCAA (UAPB,Temple,Minnesota) and one NIT (Dayton)…Akron is 4-1 lifetime against the SWAC …UA head coach Keith Dambrot collected his 255th career win (147th as UA head coach).
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