CLEVELAND, Ohio — If this season has shown us anything about Akron basketball, it’s that adversity is a friend of the Zips. That is why they will enter the upcoming Mid-American Conference Tournament as prohibitive favorites to win and advance to the NCAA Tournament.
In what may be head coach Keith Dambrot’s finest job, the Zips absolutely do not lose the last four minutes of any game, where the bulk of the teams in the MAC struggle. He won his 300th game Tuesday night and the Zips have won 30 straight at home.
Six times this season in MAC play – three times at home and three on the road – Akron has played down to the wire in what would finally be a victory by five points or less. Often the opposition has had the ball with a chance to tie or win in the final minute and can’t get the job done.
Often the Zips (22-4, 12-1), the worst free throw shooting team in the MAC, are at the line and miss a critical one. All six times the Zips have still won. Understand, if Akron were even 50-percent in those games a 2017 MAC title that can be locked up with a victory over rival Kent State Friday night would be a very tight MAC race instead.
Tuesday night Akron won, 71-65, but it was another heart stopper. Listless and lethargic with 10:36 to play, and down 11 to the Toledo Rockets, Akron finally woke up. A 49-38 deficit became a 65-55 lead with 2:59 left. Akron, behind seniors Kwan Cheatham and Isaiah Johnson, had put together a 27-6 run for what looked like an easy victory.
“That spurt where we were down (11) then up (9) won the game,” Dambrot said.
But as Akron missed free throws Toledo closed back to 67-63 with the ball and a minute to play. Then the Rockets missed a critical layup which allowed Akron to close it out.
Kent State exhales: The Golden Flashes (14-12, 6-7) could well be Exhibit A on MAC teams that struggle closing out games. They have lost three overtime MAC games at home alone, leading all of them inside the final minute of regulation. And very nearly had another OT game Tuesday night. Up six with the ball and 45 seconds to play Kent commits a turnover and Miami scores. Up three with 28 seconds to go and the ball, Kent commits another turnover.
Luckily for Kent, Miami misses a shot to send the game into OT. Kent gets the rebound and holds on to win. As the record shows, the Flashes have struggled this season and it points directly to guard play.
Not only are turnovers an issue, Kent is the only team in the league where the starting backcourt (sophomore Jaylen Avery and freshman Mitch Peterson), combined do not average 10 points a game.
Every other MAC team has at least one starting guard that averages double figures himself.
The MAC Tournament: First round MAC Tournament games will be Monday, March 6 with seeds No. 5-8 hosting. But none of those four seeds are currently locked in. Five teams – Central Michigan, Northern Illinois, Toledo, Western Michigan and Kent – are currently tied in league play at 6-7. Eastern Michigan and Bowling Green are one game back at 5-8. There are still five games to play in the regular season.
On the Horizon: It looks like Valparaiso will win yet another HL regular season crown, but it is not absolute. The Crusaders have a two-game lead over the field with five to play, but four of those five are on the road starting with a Friday night game at second-place Oakland. Win that one and Valpo will be hard to catch.
Locally, Cleveland State (4-10, 8-18), with three of its final four games at home starting Thursday night in the Wolstein Center vs. Northern Kentucky (17-9, 8-5), could put itself in position to host a conference tournament game with a last-season surge.
The Vikings are coming off a road win at Illinois-Chicago. That leaves CSU tied with three other HL teams with four conference wins, and just two games out of sixth place.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
