'It’s not supposed to be easy': Akron Men's Basketball advances to MAC Tournament Championship with 100-90 win over Toledo
Akron has yet to trail in the MAC Tournament, and Friday’s electric atmosphere played a role in keeping that streak alive.
FINAL
Akron (27-6) 100, Toledo (18-15) 90
For Akron junior Nate Johnson, this seemed like a fairly normal game from the jump: hit a couple of threes, get off to a hot start, and make the opponent play catch-up.
It was a lot more than just a normal game for Johnson by the end of regulation.
Nate leads the team in scoring (13.2) and steals (1.8), and logged significantly more minutes than his usual workload entails with 35:32 total. He went 10-16 from the field (31 total points), spearheading a terrific Zips performance that saw the entire team shoot 56.1% from the field—they went 55.6% from beyond the arc.
“Yesterday, I was focused on defense and making an impact on that end. Today, I wanted to stay aggressive while still contributing defensively. And we had other guys like [Tavari Johnson] stepping up on offense, too." Nate Johnson said.
Toledo never had a lead over Akron—not one.
Junior guard Seth Hubbard logged a personal season-high 28 points for the Rockets, leading his team in scoring. In fact, Hubbard only averaged 7.8 points per game this season (tournament included).
The current leader in point average, sophomore Sam Lewis, had 23 in the Rockets’ loss. In the 51 total personals called between both teams, he was caught in the crossfire and fouled out late in the second half.
Speaking of fouls, the calls were a real twist. Free-throw shooting turned into quite the drama. Both teams held their ground, but the Rockets edged out the Zips with one more made free throw (27).
Toledo actually outscored Akron in the second half, but the previously mentioned barrage of buckets from the Zips to start the game proved too much for the Rockets.
"We don’t pretend like this isn’t hard. It’s not supposed to be easy, it’s supposed to be very difficult." Akron head coach John Groce said to the media after the game.
Akron has yet to trail in the MAC Tournament, and Friday’s electric atmosphere played a role in keeping that streak alive.
"It’s kind of like a home game," Nate Johnson said. "It just gives you more energy to go on the other side, make it a stop, come back on offense and just engage with the crowd to try and get something going."
Akron will take the floor against Miami on Saturday night, looking to claim its sixth MAC Tournament title and punch its ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
Akron has Miami of Ohio tonight in the MAC championship game.
The most interesting tidbit about the game tonight, which you’ll find on ESPN2 at 7:40PM EST, is a duel between two half-brothers.
That’s right, John Groce and Trevor Steele are half-brothers.
When Akron last faced Miami, it was a stroll for the Zips. They racked up one of four 100-point games this season, cruising to a 102-75 victory. Tavari Johnson contributed 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting (.556), including 4-of-4 from the free-throw line. He also dished out six assists, grabbed one rebound, and added a block in the blowout, helping Akron stay perfect in the MAC and at home—at least, through that game.
Follow my live updates for the championship game on X, here.