 AKRON 83, WESTERN MICHIGAN 71 The Zips played with that kind of desperation as they posted consecutive wins for the first time since late December-early January, defeating the Broncos, 83-71, before 2,826 fans braving the freezing temperatures to be at Rhodes Arena.
Akron (14-10, 5-5 MAC) has won three of their last four games, but is still 2 ½ games behind leader Kent State in the Eastern Division race. They defeated WMU for the fifth consecutive time and eighth in the last nine meetings.
“We played pretty well.” Zips head coach Keith Dambrot said after the game. “When you play Western, you can’t give up transitional baskets, which they got very few and you can’t give up second chance baskets, which they did not have, especially in the first half.”
CVETINOVIC PACES AKRON
Junior forward Nikola Cvetinovic led four UA players in figures with 17 points. Senior Brett McKnight came off the bench to score 13, while senior guard Steve McNees and junior guard Brett McClanahan added 12 apiece.
Western Michigan (12-10, 5-4 MAC) saw its two game winning streak against MAC East opposition come to an end. The Broncos came into the game winners of three of their last four. Even with the loss, however, WMU remains in second place in the Western Division as Ball State fell at Bowling Green.
“I thought we started out fine, but then we sort of hit a wall,” Broncos head coach Steve Hawkins said afterwards. “We were a step slow the entire game, but we also faced a very hungry team (in Akron). They played better than we did.”
WARD HITS CAREER HIGH
Junior guard Demetrius Ward led all scorers with a career-best 26 points, which included a perfect 14-for-14 from the free throw line. Fellow junior, forward Flenard Whitfield, also had a career night, scoring 23 while going 10-of-16 from the field.
The visitors from Kalamazoo got off to a quick start, opening a 7-2 lead thanks to a pair of baseline jumpers by Whitfield and a short jumper in the lane by Ward. Those two names would be called the majority of the night when the Broncos scored.
UA then found its game legs and went on a 15-4 run to take the lead, 17-13, at the 10:33 mark on a reverse layup by Cvetinovic, who over the previous four games had been big on the defensive end, averaging 11.3 rebounds. On this night Cvetinovic found his offense as he scored 10 of his 17 points in the first 20 minutes.
“When we get a good performance out of Nikola and Brett McKnight, we usually win.” Dambrot said.
PULLING AWAY
When WMU closed the margin to 21-19 at the 7:05 mark on an off-balance jumper by Whitfield, the Zips put their stamp on the contest as they went on a 11-2 run to take their largest lead of the half, 34-23, at the 2:10 mark on a layup by sophomore center Zeke Marshall. The hosts went into halftime with a nine-point advantage, 37-28.
UA built it’s halftime lead thanks to shooting 50 percent from the field (14-for-28), which included 11 of their last 14 from the floor. Akron also turned the ball over just four times. WMU was just 10-of-29 from the field but had a small 17-15 rebounding edge.
In the second half, UA opened as much as an 18-point lead, their largest of the contest (69-51), at the 4:44 mark when McKnight put home a miss from McClanahan. The basket was historic as it made the senior the 38th player in UA basketball history to score 1,000 points in his career.
The Broncos, who had defeated Miami and Bowling Green (MAC East co-leaders at the time) on the road in their previous two games, did not quit. They closed the margin to nine, 69-60, with 3:36 remaining on a layup by freshman Juwan Howard Jr. But that would be as close as WMU could get as the Zips pulled away, leading by 14 in the closing moments before winning by 12.
Akron (14-10, 5-5 MAC) notched its third win in five games against the Western Division this season.
One of the key stats in the game was Western Michigan’s inability to connect on one 3-point field goal, going 0-for-12 in the contest. That will strengthen the grip WMU has on last place in 3-point field goal percentage during MAC play (46-of-144, 31.9 percent through nine games).
Both teams are back at home Saturday. Akron host West Division-leading Ball State, while WMU welcomes Ohio to University Arena.
UPON FURTHER REVIEW
KEY MOMENT: Late in the first half, Akron used an 11-2 run to turn a two-point lead into an 11-point lead, 32-23.
STAR OF THE GAME: BRETT MCKNIGHT-AKRON. The senior forward has played strong since coming back into the team on December 18th following a suspension. He scored 13 points and his final two made him the 38th player in UA history to score 1,000 points in his career, joining his brother Chris in that department
KEY STAT OF THE GAME: Western Michigan failed to convert from the three-point line, going 0-for-12
NOTES: the game was the 37th lifetime meeting in the series with Akron holding a 20-17 edge. It was their first meeting since their thriller in the semi-finals of the 2010 FirstEnergy MAC Men’s Basketball Tournament…Akron head coach Keith Dambrot picked up his 85th career MAC win passing former Kent State head coach Jim McDonald for 13th on the all-time win list…Dambrot is 9-7 lifetime against WMU (9-3 against Steve Hawkins) …Demetrius Ward-WMU previous career best was 21 on four occasions - all this season, including 21 at Miami on January 29…Flenard Whitfield-WMU his previous career high was 25 against Buffalo on January 25th
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