The season will continue for the University of Akron men’s basketball team.
The Zips stayed alive in the National Invitation Tournament on Wednesday night with a 78-75 win over No. 2 seed Houston on the campus of Texas Southern University.
Akron, seeded seventh, advances to play the winner of Wednesday’s late game between BYU and the University of Texas-Arlington.
For a brief moment, it didn’t look like that would happen when Houston (21-11) pulled out to a six-point lead with just over five minutes to play.
But the Zips (27-8) weren’t prepared to call their season quits and used a 6-0 run to tie the back-and-forth game for the 11th time at 65-65.
With each team grasping for any advantage, it was fitting the game came down to the final seconds. Tied at 73 with 53 seconds left, the Zips finally found the wherewithal to bring it home.
First, Zips center Isaiah Johnson split two free throws to put UA in front by one point with 40 seconds left. Then, the Zips stiffened on defense and forced a Cougars turnover.
Houston quickly fouled Zips guard Noah Robotham with 19 seconds remaining, and Robotham hit both free throws to make it 76-73. The Cougars scored a basket to make it a one-point game, but Robotham went back to the line and knocked down two more free throws with seven seconds to play.
The Zips then sweated out Damyean Dotson’s 3-point attempt at the buzzer.
Johnson led UA with 21 points and grabbed five rebounds. Jimond Ivey added 10 points for the Zips.
Rob Gray Jr. scored a game-high 24 points for the Cougars.
The Zips, who came into the game hitting 68 percent from the free-throw line, upped that to 77 percent against the Cougars (23-of-30), with Johnson connecting on 9-of-13. In contrast, Houston attempted just 17 free throws, making 14.
The Cougars took a 35-34 halftime lead after both teams missed early opportunities to take control of the game.
An early run gave the Zips an 8-2 lead, but Houston rallied to go up 31-24 when Dotson connected on a jump shot with four minutes to play in the first half.
But consecutive 3-pointers by UA guards Tavian Dunn-Martin (eight points, two rebounds) and Josh Williams (St. Vincent-St. Mary, nine points, two rebounds) made it 33-32, and the teams traded scores to close out the half.