AKRON, OHIO – Sophomore Loren Cristen Jackson scored a career high 31 points as the Akron Zips pulled away in the second halkf to defeat the Bowling Green Falcons 91-67 Tuesday night at Rhodes Arena.
Akron (16-14, 8-9 MAC) scored its most points of the season as the Zips ended a two-game losing streak at home while ending a stretch of four losses in the last five overall. UA also earned a split of the season series from the Falcons.
“We did some good things tonight.” Zips head coach John Groce said. “The way we practiced the last two days (both mentally and physically), they were geared to getting back to play the Akron way and letting the chips fall as they may.”
Cristen Jackson led four UA players in double figures and all scorers in the contest with those 31 points. He hit 13-of-22 from the field, including four baskets coming from three-point range while adding eight rebounds.
Junior Daniel Utomi had 21 with five boards and three assists, fellow junior Tyler Cheese had 20 with six boards and four assists with senior Jimond Ivey, playing in his final home game, scored 13.
The loss for Bowling Green (20-10, 12-5) was its third in the last four games overall while failing to defeat the Zips in the Rubber City for the 10th straight year.
In addition, the loss by BGSU enabled Buffalo, with its victory at Ohio, to win the Eastern Division title and sew up the number one seed in next week’s 2019 Mid-American Conference Men ‘s Basketball Tournament.
Sophomore Justin Turner led the Falcons with 21 points, going 9-of-18 from the field, while Michael Laster came off the bench to score 12 points.
After UA scored the first six points of the game, BGSU then scored 13 of the next 14 points to take a 13-7 lead at the 15:33 mark when Turner, who scored 15 in the opening half, converted a steal and a layup.
The rest of the first half was a battle of runs before UA took a lead it would hold for the remainder of the game when Utomi connected on a three-pointer from the right corner to make it a 22-20 contest.
The Zips had a 33-26 lead at the 3:51 mark before the Falcons closed to within three 33-30 on a floating layup in the lane by Turner. UA, however, withstood the pressure and opened a seven-point lead at halftime, 44-37.
Cristen Jackson, a transfer from Long Beach State, was the spark individually for UA as he scored 20 points, going 8-of-12 from the field after scoring only four points (one-of-eight from the field) Saturday against the Bobcats.
One of the keys to the Zips holding the lead at intermission was shooting 63 percent from the field (17-of-27). They also held a narrow 20-19 rebounding edge.
At the start of the second half, Akron opened a 54-39 lead a little over two minutes in on a slam dunk and then a layup by Emmanuel Olojapoke -- his only four points of the game, although he registered six blocked shots.
BGSU then went on an 11-0 run to close the deficit to four 57-53 on a three-pointer from the left arc by senior Antwon Lillard, who finished with eight points and six rebounds.
The Falcons would get to within four a second time at 60-56 when Lillard convered an and-one at the 10:33 mark. Again, that would be as close as the Falcons would get.
The Zips withstood BGSU’s charge, and scored seven unanswered points to push the lead back out to 11 (67-56) on a driving layup by Cheese at the 8:19 mark and were never headed. The lead eventually expanded to the final margin of 24 points in the final moments.
One key to the Falcons defeat was senior Demajeo Wiggins. The senior was held scoreless for only the second time this season. The other was on January 8 in a home win over Ohio.
Among the team stats, Akron shot 57.8 percent from the field (37-of-64) including 14-of-31 from beyond the arc. In addition, it won the battle of the boards 45-39
UA had 42 points inside the paint and conveted eight BGSU turnovers into 13 points.
The Falcons shot 32.4 percent from the field (24-of-74) including 10-of-35 from the field in the second half.
Both teams complete the regular season on Friday with Akron making the short trip to Kent State while Bowling Green heads to Buffalo to battle the Bulls.