“The University of Akron men’s basketball team will play in the Mid-American Conference tournament championship game for the second consecutive year after defeating Western Michigan 73-62 in a tournament semifinal match up Friday night. The Zips (23-9) shot 58.”
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The University of Akron men’s basketball team will play in the Mid-American Conference tournament championship game for the second consecutive year after defeating Western Michigan 73-62 in a tournament semifinal match up Friday night.
The Zips (23-9) shot 58.7 percent from the field (27-of-46) and hit seven 3-pointers in the game, which they led for the entire 40 minutes.
Western Michigan’s a very good team, so that was a big win, UA head coach Keith Dambrot said. That may be one of the best wins we’ve had here.
For the second consecutive game, UA received solid contributions from its underclassman.
Sophomore forward Chris McKnight led the team in scoring with 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting. McKnight’s younger brother, Brett, added 11 and sophomore guard Daryl Roberts scored nine.
I’m especially pleased just with our team effort, Dambrot said. At crunch time, we had two freshmen out there (in) Daryl Roberts and Brett McKnight.
The elder McKnight said the team’s crisp ball movement was key to UA’s victory.
One of the things coach emphasized was sharing the ball, the sophomore forward said. I feel like we didn’t run as many plays as we have because we were able to move the ball around.
Senior forward Jeremiah Wood led the team with six rebounds and senior guard Nick Dials collected four thefts.
Two of the Zips keys to victory coming into the contest were to match the Broncos’ physicality and to contain WMU’s first-team All-MAC senior center Joe Reitz.
In the team’s last meeting on Feb. 6, UA was out-rebounded 38-21 in the 88-66 defeat. Friday, the Zips won the battle on the glass 28-25.
I thought after getting out-rebounded 38-21 the last time, that our guys took their punch in the mouth and punched back, Dambrot said. I think that was the key to the game. We showed tremendous toughness for a bunch of young guys.
Reitz led WMU 19 points and nine rebounds, but was bothered all night by UA’s interior defense.
The Broncos’ other All-MAC selection, sophomore guard David Kool added 17 points on 6-of-13 from the field and 3-of-5 from long range.
The Zips will face the winner of the day’s final semifinal between Miami University and Kent State. Tip off Saturday is set for 7 p.m.
We’ve been waiting for this, Wood said of advancing to the conference title game. Everyone was psyched. We are looking forward to the big game tomorrow.
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