CLEVELAND _ It didn't take long Thursday for frustration to set in for the University of Akron.
Forward Daniel Utomi notched his third foul with 9:14 of the first half, and the resulting free throws gave top-seeded Buffalo a 22-8 lead en route to an 82-46 demolition of the Zips in a Mid-American Conference Tournament quarterfinal game at Quicken Loans Arena.
The Bulls (29-3, 17-2) advanced to a semifinal game at 6:30 p.m. Friday against the winner of Thursday's second game between Kent State and Central Michigan.
With Buffalo playing tough man-on-man defense on the perimeter and the Zips (17-16, 8-11) without a big man to score inside, points proved tough to come by for eighth-seeded UA, which needed to minimize mistakes to have any chance of an upset. Instead, the Zips seemed to maximize their mistakes, particularly in the first half when they turned the ball over regularly and could not find an offensive rhythm and fell into a 38-21 halftime hole.
Adding insult to the Zips' misery was that two other key players _ forwards Deng Riak and Emmanuel Olojakpoke _ joined Utomi in early foul trouble. Even though the Bulls didn't dazzle offensively, the Zips had no answers for a defense that smothered them from the tip-off.
Olojakpoke fouled out with zero points and two rebounds with 16:33 to play, but the second half proved irrelevant as Buffalo prevented UA from finding any cohesion and pulled steadily away.
Buffalo was led by Jeremy Harris' 23 points.
Loren Cristian Jackson led the Zips with 16 points and Utomi added 12.
