The Akron (24-10, 13-5 MAC) men’s basketball team defeated their archrivals, Kent State (17-17, 8-10), in an instant classic Mid-American Conference (MAC) Tournament Championship on Saturday night, 62-61.
The Zips won their second conference tournament championship in the past three seasons, ending the Golden Flashes Cinderella run in Cleveland.
FIRST HALF
The first half was back and forth between the two rivals, with 11 lead changes.
Junior forward VonCameron Davis scored the first five points for Kent State to open the game. Then, Akron senior guard Ali Ali answered with a three-pointer and a jump shot on two straight offensive possessions for the Zips to make it 10-9 Akron.
Akron would shoot 48% from the floor, making 12 of 25 shots. The Zips also made 5 of 12 three-pointers in the first, with Ali Ali making three of the five attempts from beyond the arc.
The Golden Flashes shot 43.3% from field goal range in the first half, making one more shot than Akron, 13-30. Kent State struggled to shoot the three ball in the first half, only converting two out of nine attempts.
Kent State capitalized on turnovers in the first half from Akron, scoring 11 points off of giveaways by the Zips.
The Zips were 5-7 from the free-throw line, while Kent State only got to the charity stripe just one time in the first, going 1-2.
Ali Ali led the way in scoring for Akron in the first 20 minutes, with 14 points, four rebounds, and three assists. Second was the MAC Player of the Year, forward Enrique Freeman, who had eight points in the first.
For the Golden Flashes, junior guard Jalen Sullinger led the team in scoring with just nine points in the first.
In the final two minutes, Akron would go on a 10-3 run to close out the half, to give themselves the lead 34-29 going into halftime.
SECOND HALF
The second half picked up right where the game left off, with the Zips going on an 8-5 run to extend their lead to 42-34 after the first media timeout.
Kent State would retake the lead later in the second half, 51-46 with eight minutes left to go until sophomore guard Nate Johnson hit back-to-back shots to tie the game at 51 a piece.
Freeman would hit a deep three, as Akron would go on a 7-0 run to retake the lead 59-52 with three minutes left in the game.
The Golden Flashes would then go on a 7-0 run of their own, with sophomore guard Julius Rollins hitting a three to tie the game at 59-59.
After Freeman hit a free throw to go up 60-59, junior center Cli’Ron Hornbeak rebounded Sullingers missed shot and finished at the rim to give Kent State a 61-60 lead with 4.6 seconds remaining.
In a wild turn of events, Rollins would shockingly foul senior guard Greg Tribble, sending him to the free throw line to shoot two and give Akron the lead with under four seconds remaining. Tribble would make both at the line, and Akron would go up 62-61.
In the final seconds of the game, Sullinger would put up a jumper, but would be unsuccessful, as the buzzer sounded, the Zips would defeat the Golden Flashes 62-61 to win their second MAC Tournament Championship in three years.
REVIEW OF THE GAME
Safe to say this loss stings for the Golden Flashes, as they missed out on their chance to win back-to-back MAC Tournament Championships and to advance to the NCAA tournament.
“What a tough way to lose, feel really bad for our whole roster for how we lost, but also have a tremendous pride that in these last three days, we really came together as a group,” said Kent State coach Rob Senderoff postgame.
While the Golden Flashes miss out on their chance to participate in March Madness, The Zips are going to the big dance for the first time since 2022.
“Really proud of these guys, the entire team, the way we stuck with it. We didn’t really finish the regular season the way we wanted to. So maybe some people counted these guys out, but they don’t understand the character these guys have in between their ears like I do,” said Akron coach John Groce to the media postgame.
Akron led the MAC for almost the entirety of the regular season until the Zips lost four of their last six games and finished second in the conference.
Despite the noise, the team never lost faith in each other, and all tournament long showed why, now earning a second trip to the NCAA tournament in three seasons.
The Zips will now go onto March Madness and will have to wait to see who they draw in the first round on Sunday. The opening round of the NCAA tournament will take place March 21-22.
