AKRON, Ohio – Darryl Roberts had 18 points and eight rebounds and Akron had its highest-scoring game of the season to defeat Northern Illinois, 90-76, on Wednesday night.
Chris McKnight added 16 points and five assists and Anthony Hitchens had 15 points for the Zips (16-7, 6-3 Mid-American Conference East), who have won three of their past four games.
The Huskies (8-13, 4-5), who have lost five straight, stayed close the first 15 minutes, trailing 26-21 with 5:09 to go before halftime. Akron then used an 18-6 run to break the game open.
“The name of the game is obviously making shots, and we struggled to do that effectively at all in the first half,” NIU coach Ricardo Patton said. “Our guys were playing hard, but when those shots don’t fall, it starts to put you back on your heels defensively.
“One of the things we need to better understand is what worked for us in January may not work going forward, because every team in our league has watched a lot of film, and we’re all making adjustments. We have to continue to elevate our play in order to have a chance to be one of the better teams in this league.”
The Zips’ greatest lead was 86-59 with 5:02 left, then NIU closed out the game with a 17-4 run.
Each team made 18 free throws, but the Zips were 8-for-18 from long range while the Huskies were 4-for-16 from beyond the arc.
Xavier Silas led NIU with 15 points. Jake Anderson, Tony Nixon and Sean Kowal had 12 each.
