2009 MAC Tournament - Miami vs Akron
Thursday, March 12th, 2009
Miami's Adam "Teen Wolf" Fletcher and Akron's Chris McKnight prepare for the opening tip-off.
Final - 73-63 Akron will take on BG in the semis. We’ll see you tomorrow.
0:35 - 71- 63, one Akron fan behind us takes McNees to task for not picking up the pressure fullcourt and another Akron fan calls him ignorant and they have a little argument where the yeller gets a pom pom waved in his face by the woman arguing with him everytime he tries to make a point. Fun times!
0:48.1 - 68-60 and Akron heading to the line
1:06 - 64-57 and Akron’s heading to the line. They’re about to ice this.
3:19 - Still 64-55. Miami’s going to need to score a lot of point in a little amount of time, something they’re not known for being able to do really well. Akron with 30 bench points, largely thanks to McNees. Also they’re shooting 12-24 from beyond the arc. Hard to overcome that.
4:23 - 64-55 Akron. Remember my previous post about Miami slowing the Zips down? They can’t do it.
7:51 - 55-49 Akron. The second half of this game is NOT being played at Miami’s pace. If they can’t slow down the Zips scoring they’ll be in big trouble.
9:48 - 52-46 Akron. The RedHawks are having some trouble scoring points.
11:07 - 47-43 Akron
12:04 - Akron on a mini-run takes it up to 47-41 on the strength of their defense. A steal leads to a fastbreak layup, another steal leads to a fastbreak dunk.
14:26 - Miami ties it back at 39…
16:12 - Akron out of the locker room with some shooting touch. They’re up 39-35.
18:26 - McKnight with a quick bucket and Linhart with a 3. Akron leads 36-34.
Halftime - Miami gets off a 3, but it doesn’t go and the score is Miami 32-31 at the half. Charlie Coles can’t be happy with the way the RedHawks have let the Zips get back into this (and if you weren’t sure how happy or unhappy he was all you need to do was see the scowl that was on his face for the last 6 minutes of game time).
0:25 - McNees with a crazy scoop layup that goes. Akron down 1, Miami takes a timeout to set something up for the last possession.
0:52.9 - 32-29 Miami, the Zips fans are starting to get excited as Akron is showing signs of life. With the ball they could tie it up on this trip.
2:00 - McNees gets open for another 3, but Winbush answers Miami lead 32-29.
2:43 - McNees with another 3 after a pair of Conyers FTs, a foul on Fletcher under the hoop as the 3 goes through and Akron turns it into a 4 point play 27-24.
3:36 - McNees hits a 3 and Chris McKnight draws a charge on Dierkers. Akron is down 27-18. They need to start shooting consistently if they want to try to cut this to about 5 before the half.
6:37 - Linhart with two fouls. 12 total fouls already, this one could turn into a parade to the FT line.
7:50 - 22-13 Miami. MAC POTY Bramos with 9 early points.
10:02 - 20-12 Miami leads. Miami shooting 42%, Akron shooting 25%. Also, it’s impossible to put into words how much of a complex the Akron fans have with the refs. The fact that they’ve been called for 5 fouls and Miami has only been called for 3 is like a crime against humanity to these guys.
15:22 - There’s an Akron fan behind us (maybe a player’s dad?) who’s yelled the phrase “Integrity of the game” about 35 times so far. The Zips faithful seem to have a major problem with the refs. Let me point out that there have been 2 fouls called on each team so far (apparently their major beef is about missed traveling calls… yeah, that’s what has Akron shooting 0-9 from the field to start off.)
16:19 - Miami leads 9-1 early… it’d be more if Miami would have converted on a couple of open shots.
Pregame - So far all the top seeds have advanced. Akron is going to need to play much better than they did against Toledo Tuesday night if they want to stop that trend against the RedHawks.