Zips' McKnight helps Akron slay the Bluejays in BracketBuster matchup

It's five straight triumphs for Akron (17-10) and six of their past seven going into the final two weeks of conference play.

View full sizePhil Masturzo / Akron Beacon-JournalAkron's Alex Abreu gets the worst of this collision with Creighton's Jahenns Manigat during the first half of Saturday night's game in Akron. Manigat was called for the foul.

AKRON, Ohio -- The Akron Zips' late-season men's basketball train continued to roll Saturday night, thanks in great measure to its potent bench and Creighton inability to pound the ball inside when the Zips were most vulnerable.

Add in some clutch late-game free-throw shooting, and the 76-67 BracketBuster win over the Bluejays made it five straight triumphs for Akron (17-10) and six of their past seven going into the final two weeks of conference play.

The Zips are loaded with swagger.

"We want to finish on the right note," Akron power forward Nik Cvetinovic said. "We owe some people some stuff. Everybody in the locker room knew we were going to win."

Senior forward Brett McKnight off the bench was part of Akron's problem on the boards, getting nothing off the rim all night as Creighton won that battle, 42-32. But he made up for it in a big way on the offensive end, scoring 21 points on a variety of scoring plays, inside and out, that had the Blue Jays befuddled.

McKnight was 9-of-13, making post-ups, fadeaways and trailing 3-pointers. Akron's bench posted 39 points to 17 for Creighton (17-12) as McKnight, Alex Abreu, Quincy Diggs and Mike Bardo posted double-digit minutes.

"It's huge," said Cvetinovic, who had 19 points and eight rebounds. "It's great now to play with eight or nine guys in the rotation."

The key is McKnight, the Sixth Man of the Year in the Mid-American Conference as a sophomore. He scored 13 of his 21 in the second. McKnight scored nine of those points after 7-0 Zeke Marshall picked up his fifth foul trying to defend against Creighton's two big post players, Greg Echenique and Kenny Lawson, who combined for 22 points and 13 rebounds.

But instead of Creighton taking the ball inside even more without Marshall, it seemed the Bluejays went completely away from post scoring.

"I don't know what happened," Cvetinovic said. "It was interesting. Bottom line, it was a relief."

In the first half, Creighton flexed its Missouri Valley Conference muscle, taking it inside against the Zips and getting both starting center Marshall and his backup, Bardo, saddled with foul trouble.

But the key to Akron's resurgence late in the season has been McKnight. His early-season suspensions for 30 days and later for seven games threatened to blow the Zips season up in smoke. Without him, Akron struggled.

But in the opening half, the 6-6, 245-pound McKnight showed his worth, anchoring a 13-7 run to close the half as Akron took a 32-31 lead. McKnight scored six of those points. After Marshall fouled out, McKnight scored nine points in a 12-6 run that turned a 47-46 Akron lead into a 59-52 advantage.

"They went to that zone some," Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. "More importantly they played the two power forwards [McKnight and Cvetinovic] together. That Marshall fifth foul probably hurt us more than helped us."

It certainly helped the Zips.

Source: http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/index.ssf/2011/02/zips_mcknight_helps_akron_slay.html

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