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Bulls Stumble at Akron, 75-61

Mario Jordan

Buffalo (15-6, 5-5 MAC) was led by Yassin Idbihi (Tangier, Morocco/Schloss Hagerhof) who finished with 16 points and five rebounds. Calvin Cage (Capitol Heights, MD/Bladensburg) added 14 points and Mario Jordan (Cleveland, OH/Benedictine) notched 11 points and a game-high seven rebounds.

A Christian Schmidt (Chemnitz, Germany/Schloss Hagerhof) put-back gave the Bulls a 16-14 lead with 11:12 left in the first half. But that would be the last lead UB would hold as the Zips rattled off eight straight points to take a 22-16 lead.

With Akron ahead, 31-23, Darwin Young (Buffalo, NY/Hutch Tech) drained a three-pointer from the corner to cut the advantage to five points with 4:57 remaining in the half. However, the Zips closed the half on a 12-4 run to take a 40-27 lead at the break.

Akron was able to build its first-half lead thanks in part to hot shooting from long range. The Zips hit six three-pointers in the first stanza. When the Zips weren't making their shots, they were able to score off the offensive rebound. Akron had nine offensive boards in the first half.

“We had three offensive rebounds in the first half,” head coach Reggie Witherspoon said. “We can miss shots, but you have to go and get some of those rebounds. We didn't get them, so they must have done something right.”

Akron (16-4, 9-1 MAC) built its lead to 49-31 early in the second half. The Bulls fought back and thanks to a 10-2 scoring run, cut the lead to 51-41 with 11:19 remaining. With the Bulls trailing 58-48 with 8:08 left, Akron went on an 11-0 scoring run to take a 68-48 lead and pull away for the victory.

Akron was led by Romeo Travis who scored 15 points. Dru Joyce added 13 points, six rebounds and five assists.

In the battle of the Middleton brothers, Cedrick outdueled older brother Roderick with 12 points - all in the first half. Roderick notched seven points, five rebounds and two assists for the Bulls.

Buffalo committed 20 turnovers in the game and Akron was able to turn those turnovers into 28 points.

Buffalo will return home to face Miami (OH) on Saturday night at Alumni Arena. Tip is slated for 7:00 pm.