"We don't drop off.": Akron Men's Basketball Move to MAC Tournament Semi-Final Over Bowling Green
After time expired in their quarter-final matchup against #8 seeded Bowling Green, the #1 seeded Akron Zips marched forward in the bracket.
FINAL
Akron 96, Bowling Green 67
“We’ve got a group that really doesn’t care who shoots.” Akron basketball head coach John Groce said.
The Zips could care less about who shot the ball, with eleven threes made in the first half alone. Akron (1) defeated Bowling Green (8) 96-67 to advance into the semi-finals of the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
It also helped that Akron had a bit more to play for this time.
After the conclusion of the regular season, the MAC (Mid-American Conference) tournament is arguably the most important in all of the conference’s sports. The winner gets the conference’s only automatic bid into the March Madness bracket. At this point in the season, it’s win or go home for all eight teams that qualify.
After time expired in their quarter-final matchup against #8 seeded Bowling Green, the #1 seeded Akron Zips marched forward in the bracket.
But the way they did it—that’s the story.
Akron’s bench scored 45 points. Yes, you read that right.
Those 45 points were nuclear, and it was easy to see why Akron’s ten-man rotation is such a valuable asset this late in the game.
“When we sub—we don’t drop off necessarily…obviously we expect that from those guys at this point, they’ve done it often.” Groce said
Akron was led by Bowen Hardman (17 points), who scored double digits for the ninth time this season. He currently leads the team in total three-pointers with 62.
Hardman, a junior Ohio State transfer, only averages around 10.2 minutes-per-game; tonight, he played more than double that average. It worked, too; he scored 17—leading all Akron scorers.
Overall, Akron had six players score double figures. (* - Starter)
Bowen Hardman, 17
Seth Wilson, 15*
Tavari Johnson, 14*
Shammah Scott, 14
Sharron Young, 12
Isaiah Gray, 11*
James Okonkwo, 8*
Nate Johnson, 3*
Amani Lyles, 2
From the Falcon’s nest, what could have been a Cinderella run for the ages fell short.
Bowling Green won four of their last five games after starting their conference play 2-7.
Part of their latter-half success was their willingness to change their system with—at that point—nothing to lose.
“We were left for dead.” Bowling Green head coach Todd Simon said.
But the squad bought in.
Marcus Johnson played all but three minutes in the loss, draining three-pointers late to keep spirits alive when his team was down thirty-two at most.
He finished with 23 points, the most of any player in the game. On his way there, he knocked down five three’s.
Trailing him in the points department were (* - Starter):
Jamai Felt, 12*
Javontae Campbell, 10*
Braelon Green, 8
Derrick Butler, 7*
DaJion Humphrey, 5*
Wilguens Jr. Exacte, 2
At the end of the first half, parallels of their first meeting in January were apparent. Akron trailed by 13 at the half then, and Bowling Green trailed by 12 at the half today.
The Falcons had 22 turnovers, most of which were caused by the 17 total steals by Akron.
In the press conference after their loss to Akron, Coach Simon revealed that junior guard Javontae Campbell broke his left hand two weeks ago and was playing the end of the season with two broken hands.
The Zips totaled six blocks. James Okonkwo, a North Carolina transfer, had two blocks against the Falcons.
Akron moves on to the tournament semi-finals, where they will face Toledo (5) tomorrow afternoon. I’ll have coverage of that as well.
Follow my live updates for the rest of the tournament on X, here.