Playing on their . . .
Senior Xeyrius Williams led Akron with 20 points, senior Tyler Cheese added 17, junior Loren Cristian Jackson tallied 13 and senior Channel Banks recorded 10 points for the Zips. In addition, Williams grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.
Jason Preston led the Bobcats with 19 points while Sylvester Ogbonda and Ben Vander Plas added 15 and 12, respectively.
After trailing by double digits for much of the game, Akron whittled away at the Ohio lead midway through the second half, closing to within two, 61-59, on a clutch 3-pointer from the right corner by Jackson with 10:59 remaining. The trifecta keyed a 12-0 run in a span of just 3:14, prompting a timeout by former Akron assistant and current Ohio head coach Jeff Boals.
Jackson's triple, his third of the game and Akron's ninth, served as a central part of his team's big rally. In a game against a hot-shooting rival, the Zips kept themselves within shouting distance largely thanks to 3-pointers, as they converted 10-of-26 triples on the night.
Moments later, another clutch triple at the end of the shot clock by Banks set up the go-ahead score, a high-flying dunk by freshman Greg Tribble to give the Zips (23-7, 13-4 MAC) a 66-65 lead with 4:45 remaining. Junior Camron Reece set the stage for the dunk that got 3,825 fans on their feet with a steal on the opposite side of the floor.
It was a contest that saw the Zips have one of their worst defensive halves of the season, allowing Ohio to tally 50 points before the break and shoot a scorching 63.3 percent from the floor. The Bobcats (15-15, 7-10 MAC) were especially lethal from long distance before intermission, sinking 6-of-13 of their attempts from beyond the arc. After the break, the defense could hardly have been better, holding Ohio to 17 points.
After the two teams started off at a slower pace in the opening minutes, the pace and scoring both picked up as the opening half wore on. Ohio led 18-17 at the 10:27 mark of the half, but scored 32 points in the second half of the opening frame as the Zips couldn't find their range from the field.
Akron managed to knock down 52 percent of its shots before the break, but still found itself in a 50-37 hole heading to the locker room. Turnovers plagued the Zips, as they committed seven to Ohio's two in the first 20 minutes. That disparity allowed the Bobcats to record a 12-2 edge in points off turnovers.
Earlier in the evening, Bowling Green (21-9, 12-5 MAC) fell 83-69 to Kent State which help secure the title for Akron. Both teams, the Zips and the Falcons, have one regular season game remaining. The outcome of those contests will ultimately decide an outright champion or co-championship. The games also have No. 1 seed implications at stake for the upcoming MAC Tournament.