Mid-American Conference play begins in earnest Wednesday night as Ohio hosts Akron at the Convocation Center. The Bobcats (3-6, 0-1) lost their first MAC game at Toledo on December 7th. The Zips (6-4, 1-0), meanwhile, started league play with a 105-104 overtime win over pre-season MAC West favorite Ball State. OU is 2-0 at the Convo this season and its recent win over St. Bonaventure and narrow loss to Kentucky would seem to indicate improvement in the team's play.
Two junior college transfers have reinvigorated the Akron program. Leading scorer (21.5 PPG) Derrick Tarver came via the City College of San Francisco. The 6-4 Akron native shoots 49% from the floor and 37% (20-for-54) from 3-point land. 6-1 point guard Johnny Hollingsworth arrived from Wabash Valley JC and dishes out 4.3 assists per game to go with his 19.6 scoring average. Joining the new guard tandem are returning forwards Darryl Peterson and Andy Hipsher. The 6-5 Peterson, an All-Mac Freshman Team member a year ago, is scoring 14.7 points a game. 6-8 Hipsher was a pre-season All-MAC pick and looks to be healthy this season after being bothered by injuries most of his career.
Tim O'Shea's squad looks to get revenge for last season's controversial 74-73 loss to Akron at the Convo. After Brandon Hunter scored to put Ohio up 73-72 with 2.7 seconds play, referee J.D. Collins whistled Patrick Flomo for fouling Darryl Peterson on an inbounds pass. Peterson hit both foul shots for the victory.
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I think this will be a good game. Akron plays mainly with their guards where Ohio plays around Brandon Hunter. If Branon Hunter is hot - they do good...simple as that really. I honestly dont see Ohio covering this 7.5...line is allready down to 6....
Iam gonna stay away here...If I was gonna play it..I would want the 7.5....you might wanna check the line 5 minutes or so before tipoff....if it goes to 5 Iam gonna play Ohio....
Good Luck
