By: Griffin Kuras, sports information assistant
AKRON, Ohio - The Bluffton University men's basketball took a shot at Division I Akron University on Saturday, Dec. 20, but the Zips were too much as Akron rolled to a 92-53 victory at the James A. Rhodes Arena. It was a Neal family reunion with Tyler Neal in his second year as a graduate assistant at Akron. The Beavers fell to 4-4 on the season while the Zips upped their season mark to 7-4 on the year. The outcome was never in doubt as the Akron height and length proved to be the difference with Beavers turning it over 28 times.
Bluffton coughed it up five times on its first six possessions with two of them leading to wide open dunks for B.J. Gladden as the Zips went on an 11-0 run in the first four minutes of the game. Joshua Woodrich (Navarre/Central Christian), making his first start in front of a large Central Christian contingent who made the trip north from Kidron, shot the ball well, going 2-of-4 from behind the arc on his way to 11 points, five more than his season average.
The second half was more of the same as Bluffton struggled to hang onto the ball, making running any offense very difficult, and Akron took advantage with 13-of-14 Zips cracking the scoring column, led by Pat Forsythe who was a perfect 6-of-6 on the night with six assists.
Thayne Recker (Arlington) led the Beavers in scoring, going 4-of-9 from the field while hitting 8-of-12 at the stripe for a game-high 16 points to go along with seven rebounds. Austin Rohde (Shelby) played well, going 3-of-6 from the field with three rebounds and an assist to round out the night.
The Beavers will be back home in the Sommer Center for their next game when they welcome OSU-Lima for the McDonalds Holiday Tournament on Monday, Dec, 29. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. following the women's championship game.
-BEAVERS-
