by EL PASO, Texas — Akron hit 15 threes and held off a late UC Irvine rally to defeat the Anteaters, 88-80, in the WestStar Bank Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational at El Paso, Texas, Wednesday.
Senior guard Jaron Martin led UCI (5-9) with 20 points and senior center Ioannis Dimakopoulos scored 15, hitting 6 of 8 from the field.
Freshman Brad Greene (Paiute-Shoshone) registered career highs of 10 points and nine rebounds, and freshman Eyassu Worku also scored 10 points. Freshman Tommy Rutherford added eight boards in the first meeting between the Big West Conference and Mid-American Conference schools.
Antino Jackson led Akron (9-3) with 23 points, hitting 8 of 11 field goals. Josh Williams added 18 points, connecting on 6 of 9 threes. Williams hit 4 of 5 three-balls in the first half.
The Zips hit 10 of 20 triples in the opening 20 minutes and closed the first half on a 17-4 run to take a 42-40 lead at the break after a three by Williams with 17 seconds left.
Akron built an 11-point lead at 72-61 with 5:30 remaining in the game, but the Anteaters, sparked by 11 points from Martin in the final 3:38, closed to within two twice, the last at 76-74 on a pair of free throws from Worku with 1:42 left.
The Zips hit 9 of 10 foul shots in the last 1:11 to secure the win over the defending tournament champion Anteaters.
Akron hit 15 of 31 threes in the contest and shot 50 percent from the field for the game while committing just seven turnovers.
The Zips were 19 of 26 from the free-throw line and the Anteaters were 19 of 23.
UCI, which outrebounded the Zips, 37-27, shot 47.4 percent from the floor and outscored Akron in the paint, 36-18.
The Anteaters will face Maryland Eastern Shore or UTEP at 4:00 p.m. (PT) Thursday in the consolation game to end a string of 11 of 15 contests away from to begin the season.
UCI hosts Life Pacific Dec. 30 at 7:00 p.m. in a non-conference game before opening Big West play against Long Beach State Jan. 4, also at 7:00 p.m. in the Bren Events Center.
