An injured center, a forward in foul trouble and a Buffalo team hungry to make up some ground in the Mid-American Conference’s East Division led to a difficult night at Rhodes Arena for the University of Akron Tuesday night.
Difficult, but with a happy ending, that is.
Zips center Pat Forsythe sat out with an injured right shoulder and a third foul sent forward Kwan Cheatham Jr. to the bench with just under 10 minutes remaining in the first half, which helped the Bulls build a 13-point lead at one point.
But the Zips (21-5, 10-3 in Mid-American Conference) righted the ship and went on to an 80-70 victory.
To do it, they had to stop easy buckets on dribble drives. The Bulls (14-12, 7-6 in MAC) took it to the hoop early and aggressively — 26 points in the paint in the first half — as CJ Massinburg (21 points, seven rebounds) found the lane to his liking.
Falling behind by 13 early seemed to awaken UA, which outscored the Bulls 35-15 from that point to take a 58-51 lead with 11:46 left in the game.
“They have championship level toughness,” Zips coach Keith Dambrot said of this squad, which slowed the express lane to the hoop in the second half, giving up just 16 points in the paint after the break.
Bulls coach Nate Oats said the difference in that area came down to not getting as many stops in the second half and mental errors.
Offensively, the Zips turned to sophomore guards Antino Jackson (20 points, three rebounds) and Noah Robotham (16 points, six assists), forward Reggie McAdams (13 points, four 3-pointers) and junior center Isaiah Johnson (14 points, 11 rebounds) to lead the way back.
“When Jackson and Noah play at that level, they’re unstoppable,” Dambrot said.
But the Zips couldn’t quite nail the door shut on the Bulls, who, despite missing their top scorer, proved scrappy and resilient.
They were scrappy enough, in fact, that they tied the game at 64 with 6:48 left before the Zips showed a killer instinct.
The Zips used a 9-0 run to put some space between them and the Bulls. A foul and a technical on Buffalo’s Nick Perkins gave the Zips four free throws and they hit three to start the burst. The run was capped by a 3-pointer by McAdams and a 3-point play by Johnson, putting UA ahead 73-64.
“The ability to play Cheatham and Big Dog [Johnson] helped us defensively,” Dambrot said of the run.
The Bulls never recovered despite a dominant 50-29 rebounding edge, including 15-11 on the offensive glass, and a lopsided 42-18 scoring advantage in the paint.
The Zips made up for it from 3-point range, connecting on 13-of-32 (41 percent) compared to the Bulls’ 3-of-16 (19 percent).
“You can’t make mental mistakes on these guys,” Oats said. “If you make mental mistakes on these guys, they’re going to hit 3s.”
George M. Thomas can be reached at gmthomas@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Zips blog at www.ohio.com/zips.