Akron gets best of Kent again

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

Michael Porrini covered his face and cried. There was no place to hide, and in the end, there was nothing he could do to ease the pain.

Akron made Kent State’s guard swallow his words.

Nikola Cvetinovic scored 15 points and Alex Abreu added 13, including two clutch free throws with 15 seconds left, giving top-seeded Akron a 78-74 win over rival Kent State in the semifinals of the Mid-American Conference tournament on Friday night

The defending champion Zips (22-10) held off a late rally by Porrini and the Golden Flashes (21-11) to advance to their record sixth straight title game. Akron will play Ohio tonight for the MAC’s automatic NCAA tourney bid.

The Zips swept all three games from their nearest conference neighbors for the first time since 2007, and the third one was especially tough on Porrini.

After Kent State was beaten by Akron on March 2 for the MAC East title, the senior guard had boldly predicted the Golden Flashes would face the Zips again and that the outcome would be different, saying, “We’re not going to lose three times in a row, I promise that.”

Akron had other plans.

Afterward, Porrini had no regrets.

“That’s what I’m supposed to do as a point guard and the leader of the team,” he said.

OHIO 77, BUFFALO 74

D.J. Cooper scored 18 points and T.J. Hall added 13 for Ohio (26-7), which led 46-35 at halftime and held off a comeback by the Bulls.

Mitchell Watt led Buffalo with 32 points, but the Bulls couldn’t get the tying basket on three shots in the final seconds.