Ohio shows no love to Akron

by Anthony Castrovince
Staff Writer

In a game that could have turned into the second coming of the Valentine's Day Massacre, the Ohio men's basketball team gave Akron a mere slap on the wrist.

The Bobcats (14-8 overall, 9-4 Mid-American Conference) defeated Akron 70-61, but the score was no indication of Ohio's dominance last night. The Zips never had the lead in the contest. Ohio forward Brandon Hunter led the Bobcats with 17 points and 10 rebounds for his 10th double-double of the season.

Ohio could not have picked a better time to play Akron. The Zips were playing their first game without forward David Falknor, who is out two to three weeks with an injured toe. Falknor averages 10.1 points per game and leads the MAC with a 54.4 three-point shooting percentage.

"It was real big, him not being in the game," Brandon Hunter said. "I didn't have to help out on the perimeter as much as I usually do. I could stay inside and get rebounds."

The Bobcats came out characteristically slow and sloppy, but jumped to a 15-7 lead in the first eight minutes with six early points from guard Anthony Jones. After a free throw by Akron guard Rashon Brown, Ohio went on a 9-2 run to grab a 24-12 lead with six minutes left in the half. The two teams traded baskets from that point, and the Bobcats took a 37-25 lead into the locker room.

Ohio opened the second half with a 10-2 run capped off by consecutive three-pointers from forward Jon Sanderson to take a 47-27 lead. Ohio coach Larry Hunter, who now has 199 wins at Ohio, said Sanderson and guard Anthony Jones helped spark the Bobcats in the second half.

"Jones didn't play much in the first half because of foul trouble and I thought that he came out and gave us some good energy (in the second half)," he said. "And then Jon hit the two three's back-to-back to really help us."

The game never was quite within reach for the Zips from that point. Akron prevented a blowout by shooting 60 percent from the field in the second half, but it was too little, too late.

"In the second half, we were decent offensively," Akron coach Dan Hipsher said. "But, in the first half, we were really poor offensively, throwing the ball away and not shooting it well.

"We developed a hole against a team with Ohio's talent inside. They're going to religiously hurt you around the basket."

Brown kept Akron alive with 19 points but was overshadowed by Brandon Hunter's and center Patrick Flomo's performances for Ohio. Flomo finished with 14 points, eight boards and five blocked shots. Sanderson and Jones each had 10 points.

Despite outscoring and outshooting the Bobcats in the second half, the Zips could not overcome Ohio's dominance of the boards. The Bobcats outrebounded Akron 39-21 in the game. Larry Hunter said his team's defensive rebounds helped provide the victory.

"I thought our defense came up really big tonight," he said. "We worked the boards really hard. We had a size advantage under the basket and we played off of that."

Ohio evened its MAC road record at 3-3. Brandon Hunter said Ohio was inspired by the importance of winning on the road.

"We came in (knowing that) as a team we were better than them," he said. "We had to get it done on the road. We don't care if we would've won by one point, as long as we get the win."

Hipsher was in search of his 200th win with the Zips. He said his team was hurt by poor decisions.

"It comes down to executing with the ball," he said. "We got some kids playing some minutes that aren't ready to play the minutes they're playing and it's a struggle for them."

The Bobcats remain in sole possession of second place in the MAC East, one game behind Kent State. Ohio will play third place Marshall at 4 p.m. on Saturday in Huntington.