In men’s basketball’s final contest against the MAC East, it came up short, falling to Akron on the road Saturday, 62-54.

The difference maker in the game was Akron forward Demetrius Treadwell, who scored a career-high 25 points while going nine for 12 from the field and knocking down seven of nine from the free-throw line. He pulled down 10 rebounds to complete the double-double.

“Their main objective was definitely to get the ball on the inside,” said coach Mark Montgomery. “[Treadwell’s] a mismatch; he’s strong and he can play inside and out. He’s very good on the offensive rebounds. He had six offensive rebounds in the second half, and that was probably the difference because they either led to a foul or they led to a basket.”

The Huskies (11-13, 5-7 MAC) came out with a lot of energy on the road to start the game and found themselves with a six-point lead, 16-10, with 10:53 to play in the first half. Guards Aaric and Aaron Armstead each connected on a 3-pointer and scored five points in the first 10 minutes of the game.

The MAC East-leading Zips (17-8, 9-3 MAC) were able to cut the deficit to one point, 18-17, before guard Travon Baker answered with five straight points, including a 3-pointer of his own to put the Huskies back up 23-17 with 5:40 left in the first half.

The Zips closed the half strong on an 11-1 run by getting to the line and knocking down seven free throws. It looked like they would go into the half up 28-24 but Baker gave the Huskies a momentum boost, drilling a 3-pointer at the buzzer to bring the Huskies to within one going into the locker room.

Baker scored all 10 of his points in the first half while knocking down two 3-point field goals.

“Our guys were very prepared and they came out with a lot of energy, and gave a great effort,” Montgomery said. “I thought we controlled the first half and then, unfortunately, Jordan Threloff picked up his second foul, and that’s when they started getting to the foul line to cut the lead, and they were making their free throws.”

Akron came out on the attack in the second half as it increased its lead to 38-31 behind 3-pointers from forward Quincy Diggs and guard Carmelo Betancourt. Diggs and Treadwell each added layups during that stretch.

The Zips maintained their lead until the Huskies cut the lead to 41-39 behind two free throws from Aaric Armstead with 10:13 left to play. The Zips jumped back out to an eight-point lead before Threloff answered with four straight free throws to cut the lead to 49-45.

Both teams struggled to score over the next three minutes until Treadwell scored on a put-back dunk that sparked a 6-0 run to put the Zips up 10 and in control of the game the rest of the way.

“There was about 7:30 left on the clock. We’re down four and we’re at the free throw line shooting a one-and-one,” Montgomery said. “Unfortunately, we missed that and then we held them four straight times and we missed two layups, we missed a pull-up jump shot and we had a turnover, so that’s kind of where the game got lost in that particular stretch. But I thought our defense held and we couldn’t buy a basket on the offensive end.”

Threloff led the Huskies with 14 points while going six for seven at the free-throw line, and Aaric Armstead added 13 points.