Cheese led Akron in . . .
Jackson did his scoring in the first half, recording 17 points en route to a 24-point halftime advantage. Jackson dished out a team-best eight assists and registered three steals.
Senior Xeyrius Williams rounded out the Zips double-digit scoring with his sixth double-double of the season. Williams finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
In the first half, it took two minutes for the initial bucket as Jackson buried a deep triple and senior Deng Riak followed with a rebound and put back. Moments later, Jackson drained a second 3-pointer to cap an 8-0 run to open the game.
NIU (9-8, 2-2 MAC) missed eight consecutive attempts as Akron's suffocating defense forced tough shots. It wasn't until the 15:09 mark when the Huskies scored their first points on a fastbreak by Eugene German, who finished as NIU leading scorer with 17 points.
The Zips followed with a barrage of 3-pointers as Jackson, Williams and Cheese all cashed-in from deep. Akron (14-3, 4-0 MAC) opened the game shooting 6-of-7 from beyond the 3-point arc, but went 2-of-7 for the rest of the half.
With the half winding down and the Zips controlling the scoreboard, Jackson drove the lane for a lay-in to lift Akron to a 41-20 advantage. Jackson stole the NIU inbounds pass and with two seconds remaining added an old-fashioned 3-point play to lift Akron to a 44-20 halftime lead. Jackson scored 17 points in the opening 20 minutes.
The Zips shot 53-percent from the field (16-of-30) in the opening frame which included a 57-percent effort from long distance (8-of-14).
The Huskies opened the second half with a 9-0 run before Cheese broke Akron's scoring drought with a pair of free throws, 46-29. Despite the interruption, NIU continued to cut into the Zips lead, scoring nine more unanswered points and reducing Akron's lead to single digits, 46-38.
Again, Cheese answered, scoring 11 of the Zips next 13 points to put Akron in front, 59-40. Cheese started with three consecutive lay-ins mixed with a Riak dunk, before capping the 13-2 run with a triple from the right-wing. With 9:04 remaining in regulation Akron led 59-40.
Cheese scored 16 second-half points as the Zips cruised to a 72-49 victory. Akron finished the game shooting 47.4 percent from the floor (27-of-57) and 39.3 from deep (11-of-28). Akron held a 9-10 advantage in the turnover battle, but NIU outrebounded the Zips 50-41.
(Courtesy of UA athletics)