The UT men’s basketball team lost a second-straight Mid-American Conference game last night in a 70-61 loss to visiting Akron.
“We got out-toughed,” Head Coach Gene Cross said. “We got manhandled. They were a physical bunch. If you can’t match their physicality and toughness, then you’re not going to give yourself a chance to win.”
The Zips (12-8, 3-3 MAC) held a 34-24 advantage in rebounds and forced 19 UT turnovers.
“They did a good job of making sure they crashed the glass,” Cross said. “They shared the basketball. They played through their mistakes, and they did very well. And we helped them do well.”
Nikola Cvetinovic made a layup to give Akron an early two-point lead. Freshman point guard Larry Bastfield hit a three-pointer on the next possession, surpassing his season average of 1.9 points per game just 1:09 in and giving UT (4-16, 2-4 MAC) a 3-2 lead.
Cvetinovic made layups on three-straight possessions as the teams exchanged two pointers, and Bastfield hit another triple with 16:07 remaining in the half to tie the game at 10-10.
The Zips made a layup and a trio of three-pointers on an 11-2 run to take a 21-12 lead with 8:43 remaining.
The Rockets started a 10-2 run with a free throw by senior guard Ridley Johnson and a three-pointer by sophomore forward Justin Anyijong. They closed it with a layup by Bastfield on a give-and-go from freshman center Ian Salter to tie the game at 23-23.
Bastfield finished with a career-high 10 points.
“People are going to leave Larry open. Ball State did that,” Cross said. “People have shied away from guarding him. He did have to step up and make shots. We’re going to do that so we can keep people honest. I was happy for him, stepping up and making shots, but he had zero rebounds and zero assists. He has to be more productive as a point guard for us to be successful.”
Steve McNees stole the ball away from Bastfield and missed a fastbreak layup. Anyijong grabbed the rebound and passed up to Johnson, who assisted on a layup by sophomore forward Mohamed Lo.
Akron responded with a three-pointer to take a 30-25 lead heading into halftime.
Cvetinovic made a reverse layup on the first possession of the second half. Senior guard Tyrone Kent responded with a three-pointer to pull the Rockets within four points at 32-28.
The Zips made three free throws to extend the lead before Lo made a layup with 17:17 remaining.
Kent made a layup, and Byrd stole the ball and assisted on a layup by Bastfield on the fastbreak to put Bastfield in double digits and pull the Rockets within three at 37-34 with 16:17 left in the game.
Bastfield rolled his ankle on defense and jogged off the court with 15:17 remaining after a three-pointer by McNees.
Byrd made a layup to bring the score within seven. Kent was fouled on a layup attempt with 13:52 remaining and made both attempts to pull UT within five at 43-38.
After two free throws for Kent, UT regained possession on an illegal inbound pass call. An Akron defender attempted to grab the ball away from Kent and got a jump ball call with the possession arrow in UT’s favor. Anyijong made a layup on the inbound pass. Byrd stole the ball on the next possession and passed it up court to Kent for a breakaway layup to pull UT within three at 47-44 with 12:20 remaining.
Kent drove through the paint on UT’s next possession and made a layup with a jump step to pull within one at 47-46. Kent led the Rockets with a game-high 19 points, adding four rebounds, three steals and two assists.
Akron stole the ball from Lo after a defensive rebound and made a layup to take a 51-46 lead. Byrd made a jumper from the top of the paint on the next possession.
Lo was fouled on a layup with 8:25 remaining and missed the free throw. McClanahan made a triple on the next possession to give Akron a 56-50 lead.
The Zips grabbed three offensive rebounds on their next possession but couldn’t finish. Anyijong was fouled on a layup with 7:13 left and made the free throw after a media timeout for a one-possession game at 56-53.
Senior guard Ridley Johnson stole the ball from Akron with the Rockets playing a full-court press, but he missed a dunk attempt.
McCLanahan made a three-pointer over Bastfield with 5:49 remaining to take a 59-53 lead.
Akron converted on a UT turnover with a layup by Nate Linhart. He made another layup on Akron’s next possession to give the Zips a 63-55 lead. Amos made a basket to pull the Rockets within six. Amos was fouled on a layup attempt after a defensive rebound by Anyijong. He made both attempts with 2:47 left in the game to pull UT within four points at 63-59.
“What gets me hot under the collar is our lack of maturity, our lack of concentration,” Cross said. “Mature teams are able to win games when you are down four with 2:50 to go. You run situations in practice. You put up situations where you are down six with 2:50 to go and see how you handle yourself in a game situation. We’ve been poor at handling game situations in practice, and it carried itself out in the game, just like this one. It bothers me, because I feel like we should have more maturity, and we don’t.”
McNees stole a UT pass and took it the length of the court for a fastbreak layup with 1:31 remaining to give Akron a 65-59 lead.
Amos drove the ball inside for a layup with 1:19 to go for a four-point deficit.
Chris McKnight hit a deep jumper with 51 seconds remaining to lock up the game for the Zips. Akron made three free throws for a final score of 70-61.
“We usually have the tradition of being pretty good on our home court,” Byrd said. “You have to win at home, because you have to be 10 points better on the road. And we all know that we’ve had trouble on the road. We know we need to win these home games, because when we go on the road it is not going to be any easier.”
The Rockets travel to Buffalo on Saturday for a noon game against the Bulls, which will be broadcast live on ESPN2.
“We’re trying to find each other,” Byrd said. “We have no cohesiveness. We’re not gelling. One game it looks like we might have a solid starting lineup, or a solid seven. Then you make mistakes and the coach feels like he needs to change it up. We’re having a hard time trying to find our identity.”
The Independent Collegian > Sports
UT loses 70-61 at home
Published: Thursday, January 29, 2009
Updated: Thursday, January 29, 2009
 "Photo: N/A")
Senior guard Tyrone Kent dribbles up the court last night. Kent scored a game-high 19 points in the loss to Akron.
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