AKRON, Ohio ? The Ball State men's basketball team saw its second half rally come up just short as the Cardinals dropped a 63-55 contest to Mid-American Conference foe Akron at Rhodes Arena. The loss drops the Cardinals to 10-12 overall on the year and 5-5 in MAC play while the Zips improve to 16-8 overall and 7-3 in conference play.
“It was certainly a hard fought game tonight on both ends,” head coach Billy Taylor said. “Akron has a really nice club. I am proud of our guys for coming out and giving a much better effort than we have shown the past couple of games. It was a competitive ball game all the way but we just couldn't get those key stops down the stretch.”
Senior guard Rob Giles (Detroit, Mich./Mott) continued his strong play of late as he scored a game-high 17 points in the loss. Giles connected on six-of-11 from the field, including five three-pointers.
Akron came out of the gate and scored the first five points of the game on its way to an early 8-2 lead. The Cardinals weathered the early pressure and pulled within two at 10-8 as freshman forward Maurice Hubbard (Chantilly, Va./Westfield) scored on an offensive rebound. Giles kept the Cardinals within two with a three-pointer.
The Zips ran off seven straight points to force a Cardinals' timeout as Akron took a 20-11 lead on back-to-back three-pointers. Ball State rallied with five straight points as senior guard Brandon Lampley (Hamilton, Ohio/Hamilton) nailed a three-pointer in transition. The two teams battled back-and-forth down the stretch with Akron taking a nine-point lead with 12 second left on a three-pointer from Jimmy Conyers. Lampley got the Cardinals within seven at 34-27 as he nailed two free throws with half a second remaining.
Ball State finished the half shooting 42.9 percent (nine-of-21) from the field and 60 percent (three-of-five) from three-point land. Giles and senior guard Laron Frazier (Waukegan, Ill./Highland CC) led the way in the first half with six points apiece. Akron finished the first half shooting 36.7 percent (11-of-30) from the field and 33.3 percent (six-of-18) from three-point land. Nate Linhart led the way in the first half with five points and a half-high seven rebounds as six different Zips scored at least four points.
The Cardinals came out in the second half and went toe-to-toe with the Zips but the Akron lead varied from six to 10 points. Ball State finally turned up the heat on both ends of the court and made a late run as it scored eight straight points to pull within two at 52-50 to force an Akron timeout. Giles was the catalyst in the run as he nailed two of his five three-pointers to make it a one possession game.
Akron was able to get some big baskets in the final two minutes to keep the Cardinals at bay and secure the Zips' victory. Ball State finished the game shooting 38.9 percent (21-of-54) from the field and 46.7 percent (seven-of-15) from three-point land. Akron shot 37.5 percent (18-of-48) from the field and just 28.6 percent (six-of-21) from long range. The Zips held the advantage from the free throw line as they connected on 21-of-28 (75%) compared to just six-of-10 (60%) for the Cardinals.
Freshman forward Jarrod Jones (Michigan City, Ind./Michigan City) fell just short of a double-double as he scored nine points, eight of which came in the second half, and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds. Freshman guard Pierre Sneed (Chicago, Ill./Simeon) had a strong game off of the bench as he scored nine points in 20 minutes of action. Sneed connected on four-of-eight from the field in the loss and connected on his second career three-pointer. Lampley added seven points while Hubbard grabbed six rebounds for the Cardinals.
Akron was led by Chris McKnight's 13 points as he was eight-of-12 from the free throw line. Darryl Roberts chipped in 11 points while Linhart finished just shy of a double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds.
The Cardinals wrap up play against the MAC East Division Sunday afternoon as they host East Division leading Buffalo. Game time is set for 2 p.m. at Worthen Arena and will be broadcast by the Ball State Sports Network.
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