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#4PetesSake the Akron Zips delivered a slobber-knocker to Miami and moved to 9-0 at home by knocking off the Miami RedHawks by a score of 75-46.
The Zips donned purple uni's in the J.A.R to honor former Director of Basketball Operations Dan Peters who passed away at in 2014 and this is the continued way of honoring him while also bringing attention to pancreatic cancer awareness.
It was a mess of Miami turnovers in the first half that doomed the squad. Miami had a slight advantage in the field goal percentage department but Akron led them 34-18 due largely in part to 11 RedHawk turnovers. The Zips bench got in on the fun early and contributed 22 points in the half. Akron knocked down 6 3-pointers over the half compared to Miami clanking each of their seven attempted triples. The 'Hawks made just 1 3-pointer in the contest. Geovonie McKnight had 10 first-half points, and no one else had more than 2 over the first 20 minutes.
The Zips ended the night having shot 14 of 26 from 3-point land and spread it out pretty well throughout the lineup. 10 players notched points on the night as Akron moved 9-0 at home this season.
Even the Miami press did nothing to keep the Zips from seamlessly entering a slow paced halfcourt offense and efficiently outperforming the 'Hawks. The guards carved up the zone and Miami defense as a whole and took much better care of the ball than the visitors, losing the ball on turnovers just 8 times.
No Akron player missed more than 5 shots, as Pat Forsythe was virtually the only Zip to have a poor offensive showing with his 2 points on 1 of 6 shooting. Josh Williams, Jake Kretzer and Isaiah Johnson were the lone Zips to reach double-digit scoring totals, while Williams and Kretzer alone collected 9 makes from beyond the 3-point line.
One of the only bright spots on the day was an Adoulaye Harouna jam around halfway through the second half. That was about it. Geovonie McKnight attempted to pick up the offensive slack with an 18-point effort on 9 of 13 shooting, but it was futile. For every single other RedHawk to net 6 points or less is just the latest frustrating stat line in an already disappointing MAC slate for a team that is now 0-6 in conference and has lost nine consecutive games.
Akron moved to 15-4 and 4-2 in the MAC.