Johnson Leads Zips, Akron Falls to Marshall

Wednesday, November 30

Huntington, WV

7 PM

University of Akron

3-4,0-0MAC

Marshall University

6-1,0-0Sun Belt

Akron

Marshall

November 30 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Box Score PDF

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – For the second consecutive game, freshman Tavari Johnson (Chicago, Ill.) led the men's basketball team offense as Akron dropped its first true road contest of the season 68-57 to Marshall at the Cam Henderson Center on Wednesday night.

Johnson scored 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the floor, including a 2-of-5 effort from beyond the 3-point arc. He added a team-best four assists, while junior Enrique Freeman (Cleveland, Ohio) posted his fourth double-double of the season. Freeman pulled down a team-high 14 rebounds to go along with 10 points. Senior Trendon Hankerson (Novi, Mich.)
added 11 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the floor with one made triple.

Akron (3-4) won the battle of the boards 45-43, and limited Marshall (6-1) to just 68 points as The Herd averages 86.5 points per game. The Zips shot 33.8 percent from the field (24-of-71) and just 20.0 percent from deep (5-of-25), while The Herd drained 41.0 percent of their shots from the floor (25-of-61) and 28.6 percent from long distance (8-of-28).

Marshall started the game on fire, knocking down 4-of-6 shots for a 9-3 advantage by the 15:55 mark. The Heard increased the lead to as many as 16 points (10:22) before taking a 37-25 lead into halftime. The Zips shot 30.3 percent from the field in the opening frame (10-of-33) and only knocked-down two of 10 from downtown. Marshall scored at a 50-percent rate, connecting on 16-of-32 from the field with three trifectas (3-of-13).

Akron made a few more shots in the second stanza and had opportunities to cut the Marshall deficit to five points in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, but the shots did not fall. The Herd used an 8-0 run for a 53-38 with 10:20 left to play in regulation. Marshall led by as many as 18 points in the final two minutes of the game as Akron outscored the home team 8-2 the rest of the way.

Marshall had three players score in double figures as Taevion Kinsey recorded 21 points to lead The Herd. Andrew Taylor and Kamdyn Curfman added 16 and 15 points, respectively. Taylor added a team-best 10 rebounds.

The Zips will be back in action on Sunday, Dec. 4 at James A. Rhodes Arena against Muskingum. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m.