Shooting struggles doom Chippewas in home loss to Akron
At 5-foot-8, Akron's Loren Cristian Jackson was the shortest player on the floor for either team. However, for the majority of the night, he was the toughest to guard.
Jackson finished with 31 points on 11-of-16 shooting, leading the Zips to an 80-67 victory over Central Michigan on Friday night inside McGuirk Arena. The loss is the Chippewas' third loss in a row, third at home this season and fifth in Mid-American Conference play.
"He can get his shot off from distance on just about anybody," Chippewa coach Keno Davis said. "Part of it was things we could've done better and part of it (is) he's just a really good player."
Central Michigan shot just 25 percent from beyond the arc and went just 15-of-27 at the free throw line. At 55.6 percent, the mark at the line was a season-low for the Chippewas.
"We had a tough time getting the ball to go through," senior guard Dallas Morgan said. "We remained confident in our ability to score the ball, it just wasn't there tonight. It's on us to be able to knock those shots down."
The Chippewas did get a boost in the form of guards Devontae Lane and Dallas Morgan, who both returned after missing Tuesday night's loss to Eastern Michigan. Though neither started, each played 26 minutes off the bench.
Lane fueled the offense early, scoring six straight points to give his team a 12-8 lead early on. The Chippewas maintained the lead and pushed it to six points at 28-22 after senior forward Rob Montgomery dropped in a layup. However, Akron, led by the trio of Jackson, Tyler Cheese and Xeyrius Williams, closed the half on a 15-6 run to take a 37-34 advantage into the break.
The Zips opened the second half with three consecutive triples, two coming from Channel Banks, to push their lead to 12 with 17 minutes remaining. Central Michigan twice cut the lead to three points, but Akron reeled off runs each time to stop the threat.
"I thought we made some really good strides from when we played Eastern Michigan," Davis said. "I thought our guys moved in the right direction from that."
Junior guard Travon Broadway Jr. tied his season-high with 17 points on the strength of 7-for-12 shooting. Morgan scored 14 and Lane added 12 off the bench, while Montgomery scored 11. Senior forward David DiLeo scored nine points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
In addition to Jackson's game-high 31 points, Banks added 14 while Williams and Cheese each added 11. Williams grabbed a game-high nine boards.
CMU hits the road for two games with the first at 7 p.m. Tuesday against Ohio at The Convocation Center in Athens, Ohio.
