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MAC Tourney Quarterfinals Recap - Akron vs. WMU

Live from press row in Quicken Loans Arena at the MAC Tournament in Cleveland, VanDelay Sports brings you our game recaps.

#3 Akron 72 vs. #6 Western Michigan 57

For our recap of the games we're taking a look at the keys to victory that we identified in our game previews and providing a quick analysis of how each team delivered on those goals.

Akron keys to victory:

Good ball movement
Limiting 2nd chance points
Stay out of foul trouble

WMU Keys to Victory

Destroy Akron on the boards
Stay with Akron’s 3-pt shooters (especially Nick Dials and Rob Preston)
Work the ball inside (to Reitz if possible) as much as possible.

Western fell behind on the boards early, making the closeness of this game throughout the early-/mid-second-half kind of surprising. What kept the Broncos in this one for so long was Akron's shooting. The Zips came out cold, shooting 3-14 from 3-pt range in the 1st half, shooting only 36% from the field for the entire first half.

As the second-half wore on, Akron started to find their rhythm shooting, thanks largely to Cedric Middelton who gave the Zips a ton of momentum with his 13 points off the bench. Surprisingly, Western Michigan continued to get out-rebounded throughout this one, and they seemed to forget to find Joe Reitz inside for long stretches in the second-half. Reitz ended with 11 points, but only went 1 of 6 from the field, with 9 free-throws. Some key stats from this game are below.

Total Rebounds: UA/WMU - 46/30
Akron Shooting %: 1st Half/2nd Half - 36%/48%
Second Chance Points: UA/WMU: 15/5

Final Thoughts
Akron let WMU hang around in this one for longer than they probably would have preferred, before putting them away towards the end with relative ease. Although the final score made this one look like a blowout, it actually was close for much of the game, as evidenced by the 13 lead changes. Once Middelton began creating, and Akron's shots starting falling, the Zips were far too much for the Broncos to handle. It should be interesting to see how Akron's solid backcourt matches up with Toledo in tomorrow's night session. If the Zips can limit the turnovers they should have the muscle to advance through this side of the bracket over a smaller Toledo team.

By Dan Whitmyer, VanDelaySports.com Head Basketball Writer

published 03.09.06

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