The University of Akron Men’s basketball team got back on the winning track with a 82-58 victory over the Charleston Southern Buccaneers Friday evening at the James A. Rhodes Arena in their fourth and  final NIT Preseason Tip-off game.

Reggie McAdams and Josh Williams each scored 14 points and Aaron Jackson added 13 more off the bench to lead the Zips. Pat Forsythe contributed 11 points, nine rebounds, two assists, and two blocked shots.

Akron (4-2) scored 15 of the game’s first 20 points as Forsythe hit a pair of layups and three pointers from Aaron and Antino Jackson to build the lead with 14:23 left in the opening half.

The Buccaneers (2-4) were able to cut the deficit to four at 24-20 with 7:17 to go before the intermission, but the Zips responded with a Johnson layup, a Jimond Ivey dunk, and a bomb from McAdams to push the lead back to eleven at 31-20 at the 5:20 mark.

The two teams traded points the rest of the half that ended with Akron holding a 38-27 advantage.

The second half started with the Buccaneers scoring eight consecutive points and 11 of the initial 13 to cut the lead to a two at 40-38. After that the two teams began trading baskets again.

Akron then went on a 11-0 run capped off with a three point play by Forsythe to give the Zips a 51-38 lead with 15:42 to play in the game. Akron never looked back after that.

The margin was extended to 61-42 with just over 10 minutes left to play and after an Isaiah Johnson dunk with just about two and a half minutes to play, the Zips had their largest lead of the game at 82-56.

One of the keys of the game was the way Akron took care of the basketball throughout the game, only turning the ball over 5 times for the entire game. Meanwhile they scored 29 points off of 18 Buccaneer miscues.

Akron’s next game in Wednesday, Dec. 4, when the Zips host Coppin State at the JAR with tipoff at 8 p.m.