It was a night of spoilers inside James A. Rhodes Arena in Akron, Ohio, as the Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team stunned Akron University in the final seconds as junior forward Jalin Billingsley (Cleveland, Ohio) threw down a putback dunk with one second left to give the Eagles a 61-60 win over the Zips.
As the Zips sit atop the MAC rankings, a win over the Eagles combined with a loss by Toledo against Miami would've resulted in Akron clinching the outright MAC title.
Entering the matchup, Akron was on a 16-game winning streak at home. As the Eagles held Akron to just 60 points, EMU is now 12-2 on the season when holding its opponent to just 71 points or less.
The Eagles were without star junior guard Tyson Acuff (Detroit, Mich.) who missed his second-straight game with an ankle injury. The absence of Acuff is certainly a huge gap for EMU, as he is averaging 21.7 points per game this season, which leads the MAC and ranks eighth in the nation. The Detroit native also is averaging 37.9 minutes per game, which also leads the MAC while ranking third in the country.
Billingsley led the Eagles offensively as he finished with 14 points on 7-for-15 shooting from the field (46.6%) and hauling in eight rebounds.
Two more Eagles notched double-digits in scoring as sophomore guard Orlando Lovejoy (Detroit, Mich.) finished with 13 points, and junior forward Connor Serven (Prairie City, Il.) scored 11 points. Sophomore forward Legend Geeter (River Rouge, Mich.) would add nine points.
The Eagles would struggle just after the opening tip as the Zips jumped out to a 10-4 lead with 14:38 left to play in the first half highlighted by an Enrique Freeman layup. EMU would counter back with a 10-2 run as they took a 14-12 lead with a little over eight minutes left in the first half.
Akron would then fight back and have a swift of momentum as they regained the lead, 23-18, with 3:32 left in the first half. EMU wouldn't let things get out of reach before the half ended, as they entered the break down 27-25.
EMU would come out of halftime swinging as they produced a 14-8 run highlighted by two buckets from freshman Arne Osojnik (Ljubljana, Slovenia) to give them a 41-33 lead with 15:48 left to play. The Zips would then get hot as they went on a run of their own, 18-6, to reclaim the advantage, 51-47, with 9:18 remaining.
It was a back-and-forth battle the rest of the way as the game saw four lead changes in eight minutes, until the final EMU possession when Billingsley would throw down a one-handed putback dunk off of an Osojnik miss to give the Eagles a 61-60 with 1.9 seconds left, which ultimately sealed the deal for the Green and White.
Akron would shoot the ball better than the Eagles as they went 22-for-46 from the field (47.8%) and 4-for-20 from three-point range, while the EMU shot 26-for-60 (43.3%) from the field and 4-for-15 (26.7%) from beyond the arc.
The Eagles would attack the glass with success as they outrebounded the Zips, 34-29. EMU is now 11-4 on the season when outrebounding its opponent.
EMU now improves to 13-17 overall this season and 6-11 through MAC play, as Akron falls to 21-9 overall and 13-4 in the MAC.
Next up, the Eagles will take on intrastate and MAC rival Central Michigan University on Friday, March 8, in Mount Pleasant, Mich. Tipoff for that game is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+.