Written by Mike Perry

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CLEVELAND – When it comes to the 2011 MAC Tournament, the Akron Zips just can't seem to make things easy on themselves.

Thursday the Zips blew a 20-point lead and had to go two overtimes to finally dispatch Miami. Friday, after cruising through the first 34 minutes of play in their semifinal game against Western Michigan, Akron seemed to have the game well in hand. But, as seems to be the routine with the Zips, things ended up getting interesting.

The Broncos made a run and actually cut what was a 16-point down to four before Akron pulled away and advanced to a date with Kent State in the championship game with a 79-68 victory.

"I think it was a typical Akron, Western Michigan game," Zips coach Keith Dambrot said. "They're physical, though and hard-nosed. It's almost like playing an East team for us because we've played them in so many MAC Tournaments. We have a lot of respect for Coach Hawkins and their team."

Akron and the Broncos have played frequently over the last few years, and the result has usually been the same. With the win Friday Dambrot's Zips have now won 10 of their last 11 against the Broncos. WMU's lone win came on Feb. 6, 2008 when they blew the Zips out, 86-66.

Despite playing the double-overtime marathon Tuesday against Miami, the Zips looked like the fresher team in the first few minutes of action. Starting at the 16:16 mark they went on a 15-3 run that blew the game open. The Zips scoring burst turned an 11-7 lead into a 26-12 advantage as Akron was on fire from the field, connecting on 10-of-14 from the floor and hitting all four of its 3-point attempts.

"We work on our shooting every single day and the guys are just confident in their shots,: Dambrot said. "Most of the time we'd run our offense and they were just wide open shots. And we have good shooters. Darryl Roberts is a good shooter and Brett McClanahan finally found his shot (Thursday) during the last part of the game and in overtime. They are all high-quality guys, great character and every day they would stay after practice and work on their shots. Now it's paying off."

Asked if he or any of his teammates felt any fatigue heading into Friday's contest as a carryover from Thursday night, Zips forward Nikola Cvetinovic did not mince words.

"That word is forbidden in our locker room," he said. "We work so hard all season long, and to say that we're tired right now is just not right because we play so hard and practice hard all season long and what it comes down to is the last 40 minutes tomorrow and that's it. In the preseason we ran so many miles. They're paying off now."

Akron led 41-27 at halftime, shooting 50 percent from the field (16-of-32) and holding the Broncos to just 31.4 percent (11-of-35).

But in the second half, with Akron holding a 65-52 lead, the Zips had to quickly turn off cruise control and mash the gas pedal again. WMU guard Demetrius Ward started attacking the basket and scored 10 points in an 11-2 Broncos run that cut Akron's lead to just four points at 67-64 with 1:55 left in regulation.

But Brett McClanahan steadied the Akron ship, drilling a 3-pointer from the left corner to push the lead back out to seven points and started a 12-5 Zips run to close the game out.

"I think, tonight, that we were just better than them. They battled and battled and tried to come back on us, which you have to give them a lot of credit (for)," Dambrot said. "We didn't have any answers for Ward and Flenard Whitfield, and I thought the little guy played good ... Mike Douglas. Sometimes it just is what it is; we played a little better than them tonight."

The game did not end without incident, however. With 1:19 remaining in the game Western Michigan's Mike Douglas and Akron's Darryl Roberts had a slight altercation. After Ward missed a 3-pointer and Steve McNees pulled down the rebound for the Zips, WMU was fouling to stop the clock. Douglas swiped at McNees, and Roberts apparently thought Douglas was a little too aggressive with McNees. He got in Douglas' face to protect his teammate, and Douglas gave him a head-butt for his trouble. Douglas was given a pair of technical fouls and ejected from the game. Roberts was also issued a technical foul.

"I feel bad because Mike Douglas is a good kid," Dambrot said of the incident. "He competed so hard that he just kind of lost it at the end. But they're kids and we have to remember that. I feel bad about that, I really do."

The win lifted the Zips (22-12) into their sixth consecutive MAC Tournament final. The Zips, however, have not found much success playing with a trip to the NCAA Tournament on the line, losing four of their previous five. Akron did defeat Buffalo in 2009, but has lost to Kent State both times the teams have faced off in the final.

"Some people will say that's a great thing, and some people will say that the damn guy never wins any of them," Dambrot said of Akron's history in the MAC Tournament's final game. "My thing is, most of the time the best team wins the championship game. That's kind of how I view it. I thought the one time we had the best team we didn't win the championship game."

Quincy Diggs led Akron with a career-high 18 points on a perfect 6-for-6 from the field. Roberts added 16 points for the Zips while McClanahan scored 14.

Western Michigan (20-12) was paced by Ward's 22 points. Flenard Whitfield added nine points and 10 rebounds.

The Akron-Kent title game will tip off at 6 p.m. Saturday. The contest will be televised nationally on ESPN 2.