“After winning two conference games in a row, the University of Akron’s men’s basketball team fell to Eastern Michigan 62-59. Poor second half shooting led to the loss against a team that has not defeated Akron in seven tries. They are a good team, UA head coach Keith Dambrot said.”
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After winning two conference games in a row, the University of Akron’s men’s basketball team fell to Eastern Michigan 62-59.

Poor second half shooting led to the loss against a team that has not defeated Akron in seven tries.

They are a good team, UA head coach Keith Dambrot said. They are capable of playing well.

They shot the ball early. We never got out of our own way. And when Nikola, Chris McKnight and Brett McKnight play like that, we have very little chance to really have a good night.

If one was to look at that stat sheet, the Zips played totally different in each half of the game.

After stagnant shooting arose in Akron’s last 59-45 victory over MAC foe Toledo, the Zips returned to normalcy as they shot good percentages from the floor in the first half.

Akron posted a 45.5 percentage from three-point range. Guard Brett McClanahan led the way from long range as he went 2-3, scoring six points for the half.

Forward Chris McKnight led Akron scorers in the half as he obtained seven points on 2-3 shooting.

Guard Darryl Roberts and forward Brett McKnight both added five on the offensive attack.

The Zips took a one point lead going into the locker rooms.

The second half showed a complete 180 degree turn from the way the Zips played the first half.

Compared to a 42.9 first half field goal percentage, the Zips went 8-28 in the second half, giving them a 28.6 field goal percentage for the half.

A slow placed offense seemed to be the key to defeating Akron.

They did a good job at holding the ball and making us play defense, Dambrot said.

The style of play was similar to what Toledo did against the Zips on Saturday night.

Eastern Michigan compiled four players in double digits on the night.

Forward Jay Higgins led all scorers with 17 points and guard Antonio Green added 14, while guard Carlos Medlock and forward Justin Dobbins both contributed 12.

That’s the Jay Higgins we recruited. That’s the Jay Higgins we’ve been waiting on, and it was good to see him get out of the gates, Eastern Michigan head coach Charles Ramsey said. It changes the whole dynamics of our team.

Only one player finished in double digits for the Zips: Brett McKnight, who shot a sloppy 2-9 from the field, gathered up eight of his 13 points from the charity stripe.

Brett McKnight is a good shooter, but you have to make an open three once, Dambrot said. He shot about five of them. They were all open and he didn’t make any of them.

The loss to EMU knocks the Zips out of first place in the MAC, which is now held by Kent State.

It will be a good check for us, Dambrot said. Our fans will all give up on us and we are just going to have to rally ourselves. It will be a good test of character.

Akron now has another out of conference game to look forward to as their BracketBuster game has been set for Feb. 20 at 4 p.m. against Virginia Commonwealth, who the Zips played in 2007 in their BracketBuster game.

The Zips will return to action on Wednesday night as they take on MAC West division opponent NIU.

NIU has defeated the Zips in their previous two matchups.

Tip off is set for 7 p.m. at Rhodes Arena.

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