AKRON, OHIO – Freshman Vishon Cotton hit a 3-pointer from the top of the circle with 3.7 seconds remaining to help the Akron Zips nip Bowling Green 80-78 Saturday at Rhodes Arena.
The victory ended UA’s three game slide in Mid-American Conference play. The Zips (8-1, 1-3 MAC) and raised UA’s home record to 8-1.
Bowling Green (11-6, 2-2 MAC) fell . . .
“That was a fist fight out there.” Zips head coach John Groce said. “It felt a lot of things were coming at us the last three or four days. I felt a real sense of pride and grit they have showed the past few days.”
Cotton matched his career high of 23 points, which he set on Tuesday night in UA’s home loss to Buffalo. Junior Jimond Ivey added 19, while freshman Jaden Sayles posted a career high 14 with four rebounds.
Falcons redshirt freshman Justin Turner led all scorers in the contest with 30 points, chipping in five rebounds and three steals. Junior Demajeo Wiggins had 18 points and 12 rebounds, while sophomore Dylan Frye had 15 with four boards and two thefts.
After the Falcons scored the game’s first basket on a layup by Wiggins, UA would lead for the rest of the contest.
The Zips owned an eight-point lead at 36-30 at 3:14 when Sayles scored on a layup, but BGSU cut its deficit to two when freshman Daequon Plowden hit his own layup at the buzzer 36-32.
When asked about the difference between Tuesday night and Saturday, Groce said “I thought our effort and attitude was exceptional. They responded well and … they played as a team”
At the start of the second period, UA pushed out to a 13-point lead, 48-35, on a three from the left arc by Ivey.
The Falcons then started the first of several comebacks in the second half. They trimmed Akron’s down to seven on two occasions -- the last being a left wing jumper by Turner.
The Zips then pushed out to their largest lead of the game 70-56 with 6:54 remaining on a baseline jumper by Ivey.
BGSU fought back with a 14-0 run to close to within two 70-68 on two free throws by Turner. He provided nine points during the run and 20 in the second half. The junior was three points short of his career high 33 in their season opening win at Drexel.
Akron’s task of holding off the Falcons was made more difficult due to foul troubles. The Zips had three players foul out and another with four. They also lost Sayles during the game with injuries, the last with 8:34 remaining.
In the final frantic moments the Falcons again closed to within two 73-71 on a pair of free throws by Wiggins with 2:27 remaining.
The game was then tied twice at 75-75 and 77-77 -- Wiggins hit a pair of foul shots for the latter score with 49 ticks left. It was his sixth double-double of the season, and he posted doubles in each of the last three outings.
After Ivey missed a three from the right arc, junior Lucas Smith grabbed the precious rebound and passed the ball back out. The ball then went into the hands of Cotton who subsequently drained the three with 3.7 seconds left.
Asked about the play that produced the winning basket, Cotton said, “To put the ball in my hands as a freshman was unbelieveable. But when the ball got kicked out (after the offensive rebound my Smith). He (Groce) trusted me with the play.”
After both teams called their final timeouts, BGSU inbounded the ball with junior Anuwun Lillard getting the ball to Turner who was fouled by Ivey at the 3.2 second mark.
Turner made the first and intentionally missed the second. The ball caromed off the rim to the right side where Frye grabbed the board and tried a wild shot from the baseline that failed.
The victory was Blue and Gold’s 18th in the last 19 games against Bowling Green.
Both teams return to action on Tuesday as Akron heads to Eastern Michigan (7 p.m. ET), while Bowling Green heads to Miami to complete their season series with the RedHawks (7 p.m. ET).