Jan. 14, 2012

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AKRON, Ohio -Four Ohio players scored in double figures, but the same amount of Bobcats also fouled out in a 68-63 loss at Akron tonight. The tightly-contested game which featured the last two Mid-American Conference champions saw a total of 51 fouls called.

D.J. Cooper, Ivo Baltic and Nick Kellogg were three of the Ohio players to score in double-digits, but combined to go only 8-of-40 from the field. Walter Offutt, who led the 'Cats with six rebounds, scored 11 points and along with Baltic, Jon Smith and Reggie Keely, fouled out of the contest.

“I thought our guys exhibited a lot of toughness and a lot of togetherness,” Head Coach John Groce said. “It was a very difficult game to play with 51 fouls being called â€" there was really no flow to the game or rhythm in the game.”

Zeke Marshall also fouled out of the contest after a technical foul. The Zips' big man finished with a game-high 17 points in leading his squad to a season-high tying fourth-consecutive win. Nick Harney and Brett McClanahan added 10 points apiece for the Zips, who have won eight of their last nine.

Ohio's largest lead of the first half came early on when Cooper hit a three and Keely converted a layup for an 11-6 lead. From that point on, there were seven ties and four lead changes, the last coming when Kellogg drilled a corner three at the halftime horn.

Ohio led 30-29 at the break, despite shooting 39 percent and Akron shooting 50 percent. The Zips also held a 12-5 edge at the line but could not take a lead larger than two points during the first 20 minutes.

Consecutive layups from Offutt had Ohio in front by its largest margin of five at 49-44 with 10:13 to play in the contest. However, Akron rallied late to turn things around.

The Zips were down 57-55 with a little over four minutes to play, but Alex Abreu scored all five of his points in just over two minutes to help spark a Zips run. His three-pointer and jumper fueled a 9-0 Akron spurt, and the Zips held on from there.

“I thought this week our guys played as hard as they have all season,” Groce said. “I think that’ll serve us well going forward as long as they choose to be so. It’s just one of those games that it’s a shame someone has to lose.”

Ohio returns home now for four MAC games in a row, starting Wednesday night with Kent State. That game will be televised live on SportsTime Ohio. The 'Cats play three of their next four on TV and will also be honoring all-time great Gary Trent next Saturday against Miami.