For all the commotion about DJ Cooper — and the balanced scoring of the Zips — it's Alex Abreu starting to take over for Akron. He's not much of a scorer, but he does run the offense well and this afternoon he's 5-for-5 from the floor, including two threes for a total of 12 point and 3 assits. Akron finally took a 36-33 lead late in the first half and went into the locker room with a 41-36 advantage.
Abreu is rightly going to be overshadowed on the floor against Cooper, but right now it's the Puerto Rican point guard making the difference in Rhodes Arena. Cooper just has four points on 1-for-3 shooting and might be trying to force too much. He does have three assists but has made a couple wild passes that otherwise would've made the highlight reel if they were better.
That 14-0 run by the Bobcats seems like last Thursday. They were able to tack onto their point total with some free throws but their last basket was with 6:12 left in the half. The halftime buzzer was the best thing that could've happened to them.