by AKRON, Ohio — Akron opened its season with a 92-76 exhibition win over Youngstown State on Tuesday night at James A. Rhodes Arena.
Buddy Hammer Jr. led the Zips on the glass with a team-high 8 rebounds, 3 of them offensive. The full box score had not been posted yet, so his scoring line is not included here.
Youngstown State led 15-10 before Akron answered with a 13-3 run to go up 23-18, then stretched the lead to double figures at 36-26 and took a 43-32 advantage into halftime. The Penguins cut it to 45-41 early in the second half, but Akron rebuilt the lead to 64-50, weathered a 9-0 Youngstown State run that made it 64-59, then answered with nine straight of its own and led by double digits the rest of the way.
Tahj Staveskie led Akron with 28 points, 5 assists and 5 steals, Evan Mahaffey added 18 points and 6 rebounds, and Kamrin Oriol scored 18 off the bench. Akron’s bench totaled 33 points, and the Zips won the boards 37-30 with 12 offensive rebounds that produced six second-chance points, while forcing 13 Youngstown State turnovers.
Jaiden Haynes and Jermaine Coleman led Youngstown State with 15 points apiece, and Linus Holmstrom added 14, hitting 4-of-6 from three-point range.
Akron opens the regular season on the road against Louisiana on Monday, Nov. 2, at 6 p.m. ET on ESPN+ in the MAC-SBC Challenge.
