Men's Basketball Drops MAC First Round Game to Akron

Monday, March 11

Akron, Ohio

8:00 p.m. ET

Miami University

15-17

No. 8 Akron (First Round)

17-15

Miami (OH)

Akron

Men's Basketball Drops MAC First Round Game to Akron

3/11/2019 10:49:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Akron Box (PDF)

AKRON, Ohio – A difficult shooting night for the Miami University men's basketball team and 17 three-point makes from Akron led to an 80-51 loss in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament. The RedHawks finish the season at 15-17, while the Zips advance to the MAC quarterfinals in Cleveland and improve to 17-15.

Miami finished the game 14-for-58 (25.0 percent) and 5-for-28 (17.8 percent) from behind the arc. Meanwhile Akron hit 27-for-51 (52.9 percent), including a blistering 17-for-32 (53.1 percent) from three-point range, which proved to be the difference.

Despite the shooting struggles, sophomore guard Nike Sibande went for his second double-double of the season, finishing with 25 points and 10 rebounds in 37 minutes of action.

Despite a layup from sophomore forward Dalonte Brown and a dunk from redshirt senior guard Abdoulaye Harouna, Akron was hitting its three-pointers early as it jumped to a 21-6 lead with 11:27 to go. Sibande kept the RedHawks in it with a triple of his own, and a tough four-point play after getting fouled. However, the Zips were able to increase the advantage to 20 at 35-15 at the 5:33 mark.

A layup from freshman forward Elijah McNamara helped spark a Miami run towards the end of the period. Harouna hit another layup, while McNamara drained a pair of free throws. Another Sibande three cut the deficit to 13 at 37-24 before Akron hit a couple free throws to take a 39-24 advantage into the halftime break.

The RedHawks scored the first three points of the second half on free throws to pull within 12 at 39-27 with 18:15 to go. Akron though hit another three 3-pointers to push the lead back to over 20 at 52-31 at the 12:31 mark. A three-pointer by senior guard Darrian Ringo put the deficit under 20 at 53-34, but Miami would get no closer as Akron's hot shooting allowed them to pull away and finish off the victory.

McNamara finished with eight points for the RedHawks, while Brown scored six. Miami won the rebounding battle 39-34, bringing home 17 offensive rebounds.