CLEVELAND — The University of Akron men’s basketball team found another way to win a Mid-American Conference Tournament championship in dramatic fashion for the third year in a row Saturday, March 14 at Rocket Arena.
Akron graduate student Shammah Scott joined former Zips standouts Greg Tribble Jr. and Nate Johnson in making a last-second game-winning shot to clinch a MAC Tournament title and a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
Scott swished a 3-pointer from about NBA range with 6.0 seconds remaining to propel No. 2 seed Akron to a 79-76 win over No. 4 seed Toledo before a crowd of 11,072.
Scott’s 3 to beat Toledo in the 2026 MAC Tournament final came after Johnson made a floating layup with 2.3 seconds remaining to give Akron a 76-74 win over Miami in the 2025 final and Tribble made two free throws with 4.8 seconds left to lift Akron to a 62-61 win over Kent State in the 2024 final.
“I knew I had to make a play,” said Scott, a 6-foot-2 guard and a two-time MAC Sixth Man of the Year. “Going into the huddle, the coaches put a lot of trust in me, so I just wanted to come through for my coaches and my teammates. I love all these dudes and I wouldn’t want to win with nobody else.
“… It’s a very cool moment. This is definitely something that I dreamed of and I’m just blessed and grateful to be put in this situation. Words can’t explain what I’m feeling right now.”
Toledo (19-15) almost forced overtime when Rockets junior center Austin Parks attempted an off-balance desperation 3-pointer that hit off the back of the rim as time expired.
MAC Freshman of the Year Leroy Blyden Jr. dribbled the ball up the court after Scott’s 3, but lost control of it when Akron senior Evan Mahaffey poked it toward’s Toledo’s bench where Parks was standing.
“I’m tired,” Akron coach John Groce said. “Unbelievable night. … It’s such a privilege to coach those guys.
“We wanted to get the ball in his [Scott’s] hands there and make sure that we, as much as we could there was a little bit of a differential in game clock and shot clock, but we wanted to give ourselves the best chance to have the last shot. With the ball in his hands, obviously, we trust him. His teammates trust him and he made a big shot.”
Akron (29-5) is the first team to earn a three-peat as the champion of the MAC Men’s Basketball Tournament since the event started in 1980. Toledo won the first MAC Tournament title and is still searching for its second crown.
“It’s unfathomable,” Groce said of the three-peat. “You think about all the great coaches and great players that have been in this league, the ones that are currently in the league, and how long the league’s been around. It’s humbling.”
The 29 wins are a single-season Akron record, surpassing last season’s 28 wins.
Senior guard Tavari Johnson and senior forward Amani Lyles led Akron with 15 points apiece. Lyles also had 16 rebounds and Johnson had five assists.
“It feels amazing,” Johnson said of winning three MAC Tournament titles in a row. “It almost feels unreal. I’m honestly at a loss for words, but I’m really grateful that I got to do it with this group of guys. It’s something that we are all going to remember for the rest of our lives.”
Akron only led for three minutes and two seconds. Toledo led for 32 minutes and 54 seconds.
Johnson was named the MAC Tournament Most Valuable Player. Lyles was also voted to the all-tournament team.
“He’s so focused and has so much discipline,” Groce said of Lyles. “It’s amazing his transformation since he was a freshman.”
Scott and senior Bowen Hardman finished with 12 points apiece.
Akron senior Evan Mahaffey had eight points, six rebounds, four assists and three blocks. His brother, redshirt freshman Eric Mahaffey, contributed eight points and five rebounds. Sophomore Sharron Young added seven points and two steals.
Blyden Jr. led Toledo with 21 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals. Parks had 13 points and seven rebounds and senior Kyler VanderJagt also scored 13 points. Senior Sean Craig contributed 10 points and six rebounds, junior Sonny Wilson totaled seven points, eight assists and six rebounds and sophomore Mynor Strong added seven points.
“Blyden and Wilson were awesome,” Groce said. “… I’ve got great respect for both those guys.”
Akron joined Ball State, Kent State and Ohio in a tie for the most MAC Tournament titles with seven. Retired coach Keith Dambrot won MAC Tournament championships with Akron in 2009, 20011 and 2013. Groce has added MAC Tournament crowns in 2022, 2024, 2025 and 2026, and his 2020 Akron team had the No. 1 seed, but the postseason was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Akron joined Buffalo (2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019) as the second men’s basketball team to win four MAC Tournament titles in five seasons.
Scott, in his third year at Akron, improved to 9-0 in MAC Tournament games and is also 8-0 against Kent State.
“It’s a team effort,” Scott said. “Coaches. I’m just beyond blessed. This is a great environment to play in and it’s just honestly incredible. I’m just glad I get to share this moment with my best friends and the best coaches I have ever had. I will forever cherish these moments.”
Akron will not cherish the first half when 3s were not falling as its made just 6 of 24 beyond the arc. Toledo made 8 of 15 3s in the first half and led 42-30 at halftime as Blyden had 12 points and Craig had nine points.
“Give Toledo a lot of credit,” Groce said. “I thought in the first half, they were really ready to play. They made shots. Their ball movement and their execution was precise. Obviously, it put us on our heels a little bit and then we made some adjustments coming out of halftime that I thought were good for us and gave us a chance.”
Groce called on his players to “attack the rim” for layups and slam dunks in the second half, but the Zips didn’t totally abandon the long-range shots as they made 4 of 10 in the final 20 minutes.
“Pretty much the coaches said ‘Just try and get to the paint and do our thing because we weren’t shooting that well,’” Young said. “We all still had confidence in each other to still shoot the ball, but we knew what we had to do was get to the paint and try to attack.”
Lyles said he and his teammates did not get “too high or too low.”
“We’ve been in these situations before,” Lyles said. “There’s no need to panic, just play one possession at a time.
“… I feel like our experience gave us an advantage and I feel like the crowd also gave us an advantage. Shout out to Zips Nation. They made a big impact. You could hear it and you could feel it when we went on our [15-0] run [in the second half].”
Hardman finished 4 of 8 on 3s. Scott was 2 of 8 on 3s.
“I wasn’t having my greatest shooting night, but that didn’t really mess with my confidence at all,” said Scott, a Cleveland native who graduated from Shaker Heights High School.
“Once I was put in that situation, I knew I was going to make a play. I have a lot of confidence in myself and I put in a lot of work.”
Akron Beacon Journal sports writer Michael Beaven can be reached by email at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron onto to another NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament as MAC champion