AKRON, Ohio – Behind a career-best and game-high 20-point performance from Steve McNees, the University of Akron men’s basketball team cruised to a 69-54 win over Miami (Ohio) on Saturday in front of a crowd of 4,094 at Rhodes Arena in the Mid-American Conference opener for both teams. The win was UA’s 18th-straight at home – extending the seventh-longest streak of its kind in the nation.

McNees paced the way for the Zips (11-3, 1-0 MAC) on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor, including 6-of-6 from 3-point range. The 6-of-6 performance from long range ties Anthony Buford, David Falknor and Nick Dials for best 3-point field-goal percentage in a game in school history. McNees led all bench scorers as Akron dominated that statistical category, 30-14. For the game, UA connected on 48.9 percent (23-of-47) from the field and 12-of-24 (50 percent) from beyond the arc.

Jeremiah Wood added 19 points to go along with a game-high seven rebounds. He also tied season and career highs with his game-high five assists. Nick Dials (10 points) rounded out the double-digit performers for the Zips.

Akron scored the final 18 points before halftime, and from the 4:03 mark until 0:29 remaining, McNees outscored the RedHawks by himself, 14-0. His consecutive 3-point field goals with 3:08 left in the first half gave the Zips their first double-digit lead of the night at 32-19. UA then reached a 20-point advantage with a fast-break dunk by Wood, who also gave his team its first lead of the game with a basket at the 15:58 mark.

Miami (Ohio) (6-7, 0-1 MAC) could have cut the lead to 13 with 9:52 left in the game, but a missed lay-up by Tyler Dierkers and a subsequent 3-pointer by Akron’s Nate Linhart capped a five-point swing for the blue and gold. Eric Pollitz led the RedHawks with a career-high 12 points, while Dierkers grabbed a team-high eight boards as the visitors shot 65 percent (13-of-20) in the second half.

The Zips have now won 21-straight regular-season conference games and 39 of their last 40 games at Rhodes Arena. UA is 48-2 at home under fourth-year coach Keith Dambrot, and his team’s 11-3 start this season matches the best during his tenure. The 2005-06 UA squad had an identical opening to its campaign on the way to a 13-3 record to begin that season. The win also marks the earliest date a UA team has posted its 11th victory in a season (Jan. 5).

The 15-point victory is the largest for the Zips over Miami in the all-time series with the RedHawls, while the previous three meetings between the two schools had been decided by two points or less. Included in last year’s trio of match-ups between the Zips and RedHawks was Miami’s 53-52 win in the MAC tournament championship game at Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena. In that game, MU’s Doug Penno hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give his team the league’s automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

Akron returns to action next Saturday (Jan. 12) when it travels to Buffalo. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. EST. The next home game for the Zips will be Thursday, January 17, when they face Ohio in a nationally-televised contest on ESPNU at 9 p.m.