MAC TOURNAMENT BASKETBALL

Miami  title drive falls short as Zips rally late

By MIKE SMITH
CLEVELAND, OH -- Nate Johnson's fast-break floater in the lane with two seconds left gave top-seeded Akron (28-6, 17-1 MAC) a 76-74 win over Miami (25-9, 14-4 MAC) Saturday at Rocket Arena as the Zips claimed a second straight Mid-American Conference Men's Basketball Tournament title. 
Akron, which defeated the RedHawks 102-75 in their regular season meeting, trailed by double digits for much of Saturday's game.
"I've been planning on this game, quite honestly, since January 26," Miami Head Coach Travis Steele said.  "I knew we would be in this game. I knew who we'd be playing, more than likely, in order to win this league…I thought we had a great game plan, and I thought these guys did a great job executing it."
Thriving on an early 3-point barrage (10 of 18) in the opening period, MU led by 18 before taking a 46-34 lead to intermission. 
The Zips were down 11 (58-47) when they . . . 

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. . . began to find their own 3-point shooting stroke. Bownen Hardman's three at 13:32 was the first of six Akron triples that helped the Zips close in on MU. Akron made 9 of 27 threes on the night, but seven came in the second half. 

MU SHOOTING TURNS COLD DOWN THE STRETCH
​While UA was finding its range, Miami went cold. Evan Ipsaro's and-one at 10:51 left the 'Hawks with an 11-point advantage (67-56), but they would connect on just two more field goals and two free throws after that.

Nate Skaljac's triple at 8:31 gave MU a 70-61 lead. Akron then knocked down three threes in a 9-2 run to pull within two (72-70), Nate Johnson's jumper at 1:41 tied the contest, and UA took its first lead since the game's early minutes on a pair of Shammah Scott free throws. 

Ipsaro knotted the game a final time on two free throws with 55.5 seconds left and took over with 35 seconds remaining after an Akron miss. 

Miami ran the clock down before Ipsaro put up a shot with eight seconds to go. Amani Lyles, who had 14 rebounds on the night, grabbed the miss and through a quick outlet to Nate Johnson near mid-court. The MAC's 2025 Most Valuable Player never hesitated, streaking to the Miami end and launching a running floater in the lane for the decisive points. Miami's long heave from the inbound was well off the mark. 

SCORING LEADERS
Nate Johnson led the Zips with 22 points. Tavari Johnson contributed 15.
​Peter Suder spear-headed Miami's attack, hitting a career-high 6 of 9 treys on the way to a game-high 24 points. Ipsaro (12) and Kam Craft (11) also reached double figures. 

"Hopefully we can use this as fuel and motivation to spring us; we're going to be back in this game next year," Steele said.  (We'll) use these moments as a learning experience so when we're here next time, man, we're going to seize the moment even that much more.
 
"We're not a one-hit wonder. We had a good year; [we] didn't finish the way that we wanted. One possession away – things happen. I can tell you we're going to be here for a long time, and we'll be back in this moment next year."

NOTES: 
• Craft and Suder were named to the MAC All-Tournament Team.
• The RedHawks shot just five free throws -- three in the second half and two of them in the final minute. They connected on three of the five. Akron hit 13 of 16 at the stripe. 
• Miami finished the night with one more field goal (28-27) and six more treys (15-9).
• Akron won the battle of the boards, out-rebounding MU 35-26 (13-7 on the offensive end).
• Akron had 30-20 edge on points in the paint. 
• The RedHawks enjoyed significant advantages in bench points through the first two tournament games. It was almost even, however, in the final. (UA 26, MU 25). 
• Miami led for 35.27 minutes.