CLEVELAND (AP) — After what Akron’s players and fans endured, winning the championship game turned out to be the easy part.
The Zips pushed through the pain.
One week after its magnificent season nearly crashed with the suspension of the starting point guard, Akron regrouped and accomplished one of its goals Saturday night by beating Ohio 65-46 to win the Mid-American Conference championship and the league’s automatic spot in the NCAA tournament.
The stunning arrest of guard Alex Abreu was followed by something nearly as unexpected — Akron won it all.
“This is just an unbelievable tribute to our players,” Zips coach Keith Dambrot said. “It’s unreal just how everybody in our program was. It was a total team effort from our trainer to our strength coach to our athletic director to our sports psychologist to our secretary. It’s unreal just how everybody in our program was.
“We have a group of people who take care of one and other. That’s why we got through it.”
The Zips pushed through the pain.
One week after its magnificent season nearly crashed with the suspension of the starting point guard, Akron regrouped and accomplished one of its goals Saturday night by beating Ohio 65-46 to win the Mid-American Conference championship and the league’s automatic spot in the NCAA tournament.
The stunning arrest of guard Alex Abreu was followed by something nearly as unexpected — Akron won it all.
“This is just an unbelievable tribute to our players,” Zips coach Keith Dambrot said. “It’s unreal just how everybody in our program was. It was a total team effort from our trainer to our strength coach to our athletic director to our sports psychologist to our secretary. It’s unreal just how everybody in our program was.
“We have a group of people who take care of one and other. That’s why we got through it.”