“The University of Akron’s men’s basketball team defeated the Ohio Bobcats 61-50 on Thursday night. The win, coupled with the results from the rest of the night’s MAC East games, vaulted the Zips into a four-way tie for first place in the division with Bowling Green, Buffalo and Miami.”
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The University of Akron’s men’s basketball team defeated the Ohio Bobcats 61-50 on Thursday night. The win, coupled with the results from the rest of the night’s MAC East games, vaulted the Zips into a four-way tie for first place in the division with Bowling Green, Buffalo and Miami.

Senior forward Nate Linhart led the team in points (15) and rebounds (seven) in his final game at Rhodes Arena.

After leading 23-21 at the half, the Zips (19-11, 10-5 MAC) shot 52.4 percent (11-of-21) from the field in the final period to maintain the lead the remainder of the game, with their bench outscoring the Bobcats 21-8 in the half.

UA improved to 14-0 when outrebounding their opponent by holding a 33-25 advantage on the glass.

With the Zips’ offense struggling again, UA relied on its defense to grind out the victory. UA shut the Bobcats out from behind the 3-point line, as OU went 0-of-14.

UA shot 37.3 percent (19-of 51) for the game from the field while OU (14-15, 7-8 MAC) shot 46.5 percent (20-of43).

It’s just kind of how our games have been going lately, Linhart said. We knew we were going to see some zone tonight because of the Bowling Green game and how we performed against them.

Zips’ head coach Keith Dambrot agreed with his senior captain, acknowledging that his team has to play the style of game that gives it the best chance to win.

Right now, the way we win is ‘slop it up,’ Dambrot said. You can dress a pig up, but you’re still a pig.

UA had better success offensively in the second half by forcing the ball into the post and being more physical.

We made it (OU’s defense) man-to-man, Dambrot said. We threw it to the block. In the first half, we finessed it. We’re not a team that is good at that.

Senior forward Jerome Tillman led the Bobcats with a game-high 17 points and eight rebounds.

UA will travel to Kent State on Sunday to close out the regular season with a pivotal game with the archrival Golden Flashes. Tip-off for the FSN telecast is set for noon.

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