Enrique Freeman, Ali Ali, Greg Tribble Jr. lead Akron to MAC men's basketball championship

CLEVELAND — One point separated the University of Akron and Kent State University men's basketball teams Saturday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

The Mid-American Conference Men's Basketball Championship featured scoring runs by each team, and Akron had a five-point possession and a four-point play.

Zips and Flashes made jumpers, slam dunks, layups and free throws.

And then there was a puzzling foul with 4.8 seconds remaining in the second half.

With Kent State leading Akron by one point, Zips senior guard Greg Tribble Jr. dribbled the ball in the backcourt and was fouled by sophomore guard Julius Rollins, even though the Golden Flashes were over the limit.

Rollins apparently didn't realize his foul would be KSU's ninth of the half.

Facing a one-and-one situation, Tribble made two free throws to propel Akron to a 62-61 win and a spot in the NCAA Division I Tournament for the sixth time in program history. Akron will meet Creighton at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in Pittsburgh.

"I was really surprised when he intentionally fouled me," Tribble said after Akron won its fifth MAC Tournament championship.

"I'm like, did he? But oh well, it ended up working out. ... It was like, alright, free points. I'll take 'em."

Tribble said he "wasn't really nervous" when he stepped to the free throw line.

"I have been putting in so much work since I started playing basketball," Tribble said. "Just basically, I felt like that was God just showing me this is where all your hard work is going to come full circle. So, I just stepped up there with confidence, with a smile on my face and knocked them down."

Kent State junior guard Jalen Sullinger shot a jumper at the buzzer, contested by Akron senior forward Enrique Freeman, but missed as he faded to his left before a crowd of 7,955.

Akron players and coaches celebrated on the court, and then received the championship trophy. The Zips beat the Flashes for the third time this season and lead the series 83-82, including 3-2 in MAC Tournament finals.

Freeman was named the MAC Tournament MVP and then trimmed part of the net for a memento. He was tabbed as the MAC Player of the Year on Wednesday.

Akron advances to the NCAA Tournament for the second time with Ali, Freeman, Tribble and seniors Ali Ali and Mikal Dawson in uniform. The quartet helped the Zips win the MAC Tournament title in 2022.

"I was surprised," Akron coach John Groce said of the foul with 4.8 seconds left. "... I was going to call time out. We had one left. I was waving to him to get it into the front court and then we've got a menu of four or five special situation plays, sideline out, quarter court that we could run. That's what I thought was going to happen.

"... Obviously the schools, [brings fists together], but [KSU coach Rob Senderoff] and I have been close for a long time. I hope they appreciate him and what he's done, how good they've been for a long time. He's been a huge part of that. I got a lot of respect for their players."

Freeman and Ali were named to the All-MAC Tournament team with Kent State juniors Sullinger and VonCameron Davis and Ohio senior Jaylin Hunter.

Ali had 18 points, five assists and five rebounds in just over 37 minutes to lead Akron (24-10) past KSU (17-17). Ali made 6 of 11 shots from the field (including 3 of 6 3-pointers) and 3 of 3 free throws.

"I wasn't too happy with my decision making [with six turnovers], but like [Groce] said there's no time to just sit and dwell," Ali said. "... I just kept trying to get to the next play and next play and eventually got some open looks."

Freeman, a Cleveland native, totaled 17 points, nine rebounds, four blocks and one assist in exactly 33 minutes. He shot 5 of 9 from the field (including 1 of 1 from 3) and 6 of 10 from the free throw line.

"You remember when LeBron [James] won a championship in 2016 [with the Cavaliers] and he was like, 'Cleveland, this is for you.' That's how I feel," Freeman said. "That is exactly how I feel. I'm happy to do it with these guys and I know there's a lot of people in the stands from the city. Cleveland showed up, so I am just happy."

Kent looked like it might win after junior center Cli'Ron Hornbeak made a putback dunk to give the Flashes a 61-60 lead with 6.2 seconds left.

"What a great game and what a horrible, tough way to lose," Senderoff said. "Feel really, really badly for our whole roster with how we lost, but also have a tremendous amount of pride in the fact that over these last three days we really came together as a group. Gio didn't come out in three straight games. Jaylen didn't come out in two of the last three games.

"As I told the team, I should have called a time out there, so do not blame Julius. There's a hundred plays in the game and that was just one of them. ... Give Akron credit, they had an awesome team and they found a way to win."

Davis had 21 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals. Sullinger finished with 19 points and eight rebounds. Santiago added seven points.

"They had a heck of a three-day run," Groce said. "I could see from watching film coming into the game that Rob had them playing their best basketball. You could tell they were really motivated and connected throughout the course of the tournament, so my hat's off to them on the run that they had [with wins over Toledo and Bowling Green].

"Really proud of these guys, our entire team. ... We get down early in the Miami game [Thursday] in the quarters and we come back. Didn't flinch. [Friday against Ohio], we scored 16 points in the first half and have 13 turnovers and usually that's a recipe for disaster, but our guys bounced back in the second half, made plays and really had a refuse to lose disposition. I thought [Saturday], did we play our best? Not necessarily, but we found a way."

Akron sophomore guard Nate Johnson made two 3s, a free throw and shot 4 of 8 from the field to contribute 11 points. Junior guard Shammah Scott added seven points and Tribble had four points and three assists.

Akron put together a 19-4 run to lead 34-26 with 26.7 seconds to go in the first half. Ali capped the run with a 3 and a free throw for a four-point play after being fouled.

Freeman started the run with a layup and made a free throw with 4:08 on the clock to pass Eric McLaughlin (1,810 points from 1985-1989) for No. 3 on the Akron career scoring list.

Dawson, Scott and Tribble also scored the during the first-half surge. Dawson made a 3 at 3:20, a flagrant foul was called and Freeman completed a five-point possession with two free throws.

Sullinger swished a deep 3 at the buzzer to cut KSU's deficit to 34-29 at halftime, and helped the Flashes to a 51-46 lead with about 10 minutes left in the second half.

Akron compiled a 13-1 run to lead 59-52 with 3:31 remaining. Nate Johnson converted a jumper, layup and free throw, Freeman and Scott each netted a 3 and Ali dropped in a layup.

Davis, Rollins and Hornbeak scored during KSU's final run, but Akron triumphed.

Michael Beaven can be reached at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal and is on Twitter at @MBeavenABJ.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron Zips top Kent State to win MAC men's basketball championship