CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Akron Zips rarely play well at Northern Illinois and Tuesday was no different. Yet the Zips were able to come back from 14 points down for a 76-73 victory to remain unbeaten at the halfway point of the Mid-American Conference basketball season.
That latest win should put to rest any notion there is a team out there waiting to ambush the Zips, even with a hot night. Akron has won 12 straight games and stands 19-3, 9-0, even after NIU shot 52.8 percent for the game and a sizzling 66.7 percent on 3-pointers. The Huskies also out-rebounded Akron, 34-28.
And still the Huskies were not able to put the Zips away as Antino Jackson scored 22 points on his 21st birthday and Isaiah Johnson scored 21 points with seven rebounds.
Jackson was 4 of 8 on 3-pointers and 6-for-6 at the foul line, including four in the final 23 seconds. He also had five steals, including four in the second half.
“In the second half we ran out of energy and our turnovers (16) cost us,” NIU coach Mark Montgomery told the media after seeing his team lose a 47-33 halftime lead.
The Zips look Netspor to make it 20 wins on the season Saturday at Ohio University.
Hot and cold: Kent State looks to make it two straight on the road, and four wins in the last five games at Miami on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
The inconsistent Flashes stand at 12-10, 4-5 after a rugged 70-64 victory at Eastern Michigan on Tuesday. The win comes after a 105-98 overtime heartbreaker at home to Central Michigan on Saturday.
Senior forward Jimmy Hall posted 24 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out Tuesday, but freshmen Mitch Peterson (13 points) and Jaylin Walker (11) made clutch free throws inside the final minute to lock down the victory.
Finally home: The calendar has flipped to February and the Cleveland State Vikings hope to flip ahead with it. A four-game road trip is behind them leaving CSU standing 6-15 on the season and 2-7 in Horizon League play.
But this month the Vikings play the bulk of their games at home, beginning Thursday at 7 p.m. against Detroit in the Wolstein Center.
While going 1-3 on the road, CSU did show signs of fight, first taking down Oakland in a major upset before closes losses to Milwaukee, Green Bay and Youngstown State.
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