Akron Zips Fall To Kent State in Regular Season Finale, 79-77

The Akron Zips Mens Basketball program fell to rival Kent State in another heated matchup, 79-77.

The loss send the Zips to a final 9-9 record in the Mid American Conference.

"Very proud of our team... I didn't know what I was going to get tonight." Zips Head Coach Keith Dambrot said after the game. "I just didn't know if we had our whole heart still together after all the things that happened to us."

Coach Dambot is of course referring to key loses to their team in the past few weeks.

The Zips lost Noah Robotham, their breakout freshman point gaurd to an ACL Tear late in the season, and the Zips were without Center Pat Forsythe and B.J Gladden in the matchup against the Golden Flashes.

With lowered odds, however, the Zips came close and lost to a buzzer beater layup made by Flashes Kris Brewer.

"Its a tribute to our program as to how well our guys played under the circumstances." Coach Dambot commented, regarding the Zips able to play a close game, even with missing key players. "With a break or two we'd probably win."

Kent State knew their chance was in the paint, even though they struggled earlier in the season in that goal against Akron.

"We knew we had to drive the basketball." Kent State Head Coach Rob Senderoff shared after the game. "When we play Akron, thats one of the things that we always try to do, and the first time we played them, we didn't make great plays off our drive.... tonight we were able to make more plays."

Up next for the Zips is a campus site game against Northern Illinois on Monday, with the game being their last chance to punch in their ticket to Cleveland for the Mid American Conference Tournament.

Coach Dambrot is not concerned with the loss, and potentially playing short staffed once again.

"We've shown that we can play toe-to-toe with every good team in this league, regardless of the circumstances." Dambrot noted.