AKRON, OHIO – The Akron Zips improved their record to 3-1 Monday as they led from wire-to-wire, defeating the South Carolina-Upstate Spartans 66-45 at Rhodes Arena.
In addition, the Zips remained . . .
“We were much better than the NC Central game, but we need to get on the backboards on Friday night.” Zips head coach John Groce said. “Offensively, we were moving at a fast pace.”
Junior Loren Cristen Jackson led all scorers in the contest with 18 points, while junior Cameron Reece added 10. Greg Tribble came off the bench score 11.
USC-Upstate (1-4) was led by Dalvin White with seven points.
UA scored the game’s first 10 points ,making four of its first five shots. The offense was fueled by a pair of layups by Reece to start the game.
The visitors from the Big South conference scored their first points of the game at the 14:49 mark on a jumper by sophomore Everette Hammond. The basket kicked off the Spartans only run of the game, using a 7-2 spurt to close the margin to 12-7 at the 12:30 mark on a straight away jumper by White.
Upstate would again close to within five (23-18) at the 6:00 mark on a jumper by Thomas Booker. However that would be the closest USC-Upstate would get for the rest of the game.
The Zips slowly rebuilt their lead at the end of the first half, opening an 11-point advantage at intermission 32-21.
The Spartans had 14 offensive rebounds to stay withing striking distance at the end of the first half.
It was more of the same in the second half as the Zips opened the game’s largest margin at 30 points on two occasions. The last was 66-36 on a put-back by Dang Riak.
The Zips complete this three-game homestand on Thursday night when they face the Youngstown State Penguins who are 1-2 on the season as they face North Carolina Central on Tuesday night at home.