Men's basketball looks to Akron game after loss to Kent State
CMU looks to rebound in the last game of a three-game Mid-American Conference East homestand against Akron at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Rose Arena.
The Chippewas are coming off a 68-63 loss Saturday to East-leading Kent State in front of 3,142 fans, their first home MAC loss of the season.
“They were able to establish themselves in the second half, particularly offensively,” said CMU coach Ernie Zeigler. “And we just really struggled to guard and get stops and, ultimately, it was too hard to stand.”
Akron (17-7, 7-3 MAC) beat Ball State 75-70 in overtime the same day in Muncie, Ind. Sophomore guard Anthony Hitchens led the Zips with 17 points. Hitchens was one of four Akron players to score in double figures.
Sophomore forward Nikola Cvetinovic and senior forward Jimmy Conyers finished with a team-leading 10 rebounds.
McKnight leads the team in scoring this year, averaging 10.2 points per game, while Conyers is the leading rebounder, averaging 6.6 per game.
The Zips have the second-best defense in the MAC, giving up 62.8 points per game. They also lead the conference in scoring margin, scoring 7.7 more points than their opponent per game.
CMU is 1-2 against Akron under Zeigler; its lone win came at home in 2007-08. CMU (11-10, 6-3 MAC) is a half-game ahead of Ball State (12-10, 6-4 MAC) in the MAC West.
Saturday
CMU senior guard Jordan Bitzer made a 3-pointer with 12:44 remaining Saturday and the noise inside Rose Arena reached its pinnacle, sending Kent State reeling. But the Golden Flashes, down 48-39, did not panic.
The perennial Mid-American Conference power called a timeout, regrouped and began to control the play, coming back to defeat the Chippewas.
“They’re a team that’s been in big games throughout their entire program, and getting down by nine points when we made that little run was nothing to them,” Bitzer said.
The Golden Flashes outshot CMU 58.1 percent to 48.9, including 68.2 percent in the second half.
“We were trying to switch up defense on them and keep them guessing, but they did a great job attacking our defenses and putting the pressure on us,” Bitzer said.
The win snapped a seven-game home winning streak for CMU and allowed Kent State (17-7, 8-2 MAC) to keep the conference lead.
CMU played without senior guard Robbie Harman for all but six minutes of the first half after he picked up two early fouls.
In the second, CMU maintained its lead and junior guard Amir Rashid and Bitzer hit back-to-back field goals, forcing Kent State to take its timeout.
The Golden Flashes went on a 13-0 run following, going up by four.
“We were just not able to get stops,” said CMU coach Ernie Zeigler.
CMU battled back, however, and took the lead briefly after a steal and dunk by junior guard Antonio Weary.
But Kent State went on another 6-0 run and did not relinquish the lead since.
Bitzer led the Chippewas with 19 points, while Thomas had 12 and Weary had 10. The Golden Flashes were led by forward Justin Greene, who scored 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting.
