Senior guard Loren Cristian Jackson led . . .
The Akron scoresheet was balanced with 11 players scoring and six players with at least six points. Ball State had just one player in double figures. Ishmael El-Amin led the Cardinals with 13 points.
The Zips defense caused problems for the Cardinals (6-8, 4-5 MAC) all afternoon as UA denied Ball State a field goal from the 7:11 mark of the first half until 16.2 seconds left in the initial stanza.
Akron (10-3, 8-2 MAC) capitalized during that span, outscoring BSU 17-0 for a 32-13 advantage. The Cardinals ended the scoring drought by hitting a 3-pointer with 16-seconds remaining in the first half. Jackson responded with a driving layup as time expired to lift Akron to a 34-16 lead at intermission.
The second half was much of the same as Akron led by as many as 34 points and maintained a double-digit advantage for the final 24 minutes of the game. The Zips never trailed in the contest, while limiting the opponent to the lowest point totals of the season, only allowing the Cardinals to score 16 points in the opening half and 26 in the second half.
Akron forced 18 turnovers and held held Ball State to 34 percent from the field (17-of-50) and 18.2 percent from beyond the 3-point arc (4-of-22).