Ball State improved to 14-11 overall and 5-7 in the MAC with its third straight victory, while the Zips fell to an identical 14-11 but 6-6 in conference competition.
"Statistically speaking, Akron is the best defensive team we've faced all year," Ball State head coach James Whitford said. "Because of that, we had to find other way to get things done.
"I thought we played the right way on offense in the first half and didn't deliver, but I couldn't be more pleased with the way we shared the ball. I thought we also made good hustle plays and effort plays in the second half. I couldn't be more proud. It was a good win for us."
While Moses hit the game-winner, Persons had a clutch shot himself with just over a minute to play. The Cardinals were behind by five with 3:20 to play and trying to overcome a two-minute scoring drought.
The team clawed its way back in and Persons drilled a long 2 to give BSU the lead with 1:05 remaining. Akron momentarily regained its lead on a pair of makes from the charity stripe with 26 seconds left, but Moses' tip was the final bucket, as the Zips missed a shot as time expired.
Akron came into the game with the top scoring defense in the conference, but Ball State's defense got the job done, too. The Cardinals held the Zips to 30.2 percent from the field while shooting 34.4 themselves. BSU grabbed seven steals while blocking four shots and also outrebounded Akron, 49-37.
The Cardinals attempted to make a statement early as Walton intercepted a pass on defense and fed Teague for a breakaway dunk on the other end. Akron responded by stringing together an 11-4 run to snag the lead and force a BSU timeout.
Ball State responded with six quick points out of the timeout but could never quite get over the hump the remainder of the half. The deficit never grew greater than eight, but the Zips took a 29-21 advantage into the locker room.
The halftime break gave the Cardinals a chance to regroup, and they came out with a 7-0 run 90 seconds into the second half to pull within three.
BSU continued to keep things close and finally broke through at the 12:24 mark when a fastbreak layup by Tayler Persons gave Ball State its first lead since early in the first half. Akron then took the lead back and held it until Persons and Moses came through with their clutch pair of baskets to secure the win.
"We did start making some more shots in the second half but I don't think that was necessarily the difference," Whitford said. "I really think it was those hustle plays that helped us out. Tahjai made a lot of those plays, and it was exactly what we needed."
Junior Daniel Utomi led Akron with 21 points, followed by Loren Christian Jackson tallied 11 and Tyler Cheese added 10.
(Courtesy of BSU Athletics)