Zips Beat Bobcats In MAC Showdown - 19 Action News|Cleveland, OH|News, Weather, Sports

Courtesy: GoZips.com

AKRON, Ohio – Alex Abreu had a career-high 21 points and nine assists to lead Akron past Ohio 86-72 on Saturday night at James A. Rhodes Arena in a meeting of the Mid-American Conference's two unbeaten teams.

The Zips (17-4, 8-0), the defending MAC regular-season champion, won their 13th-consecutive game, the longest streak in Division I after Kansas lost today to Oklahoma State. The win was also Akron's 11th-straight at home, which was tied for the 22nd longest nationally entering the day.

Zeke Marshall and Demetrius "Tree" Treadwell contributed double-doubles for Akron. Marshall had 17 points and 12 rebounds, Treadwell 15 points and 10 rebounds.

The Bobcats (15-6, 6-1), who had won seven straight coming in, beat Akron in the last meeting between the programs in last season's MAC tournament final.

Abreu's 10 points in the final 10 minutes before halftime helped the Zips outscore the Bobcats 31-13 after trailing 23-10. His 3-pointer with less than two minutes to go in the half gave Akron the lead for good at 36-33. He finished the first half with 12 points on 5-for-5 shooting from the floor (2-for-2 3-pointers).

Nick Harney posted 13 points and Reggie McAdams 11 for the Zips, who shot 56.1 percent (32-of-57) from the field for the game and edged Ohio 40-22 on the glass.

Nick Kellogg scored 15 points for Ohio and D.J. Cooper had 14 points and six assists. The Bobcats shot 40.7 percent (22-of-54) from the floor.

Akron plays host to Central Michigan on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET at Rhodes Arena live on SportsTime Ohio.

Zips Notebook: Alex Abreu became the third player in school history with 400 assists ... he has 402 dimes in 88 career games played ... tonight marked the third time this season Abreu has had nine assists and the second time in league play (at Toledo, Jan. 23) ... Demetrius "Tree" Treadwell notched his fourth double-double in five games and fifth of the season ... Zeke Marshall also tallied his fifth double-double of the year ... Marshall moved into 32nd place on UA's all-time career scoring list (1,109 points), passing Marcel Boyce (1,108; 1985-87).