HACKENSACK, N.J. – Despite a strong start to the second half, sparked by Brett McKnight, the University of Akron men's basketball team lost 69-57 to Eastern Kentucky on Saturday in a Legends Classic match-up at Stratis Arena on the campus of Fairleigh Dickinson.

McKnight scored the Zips' first 10 points of the second period and Nate Linhart capped the run with a 3-pointer of his own to help Akron (3-2) make the score 38-all after it trailed 32-25 at the half.

With the scored tied at 54 with 4:17 remaining, Eastern Kentucky (4-2) closed the game on a 15-3 run to claim the final margin. The Colonels went 7-for-7 from the line over the final 3:57, and finished the game 12-of-13 (92.3 percent) from the charity stripe.

EKU's Mike Rose led all players with 20 points and a game-high-tying eight rebounds. Dayvon Ellis pitched in 11 points and Papa Oppong also grabbed eight boards for the Colonels, who knocked off tournament host Fairleigh Dickinson 83-47 on Friday night.

Brett McKnight led UA in the scoring column, with 12 of his game-high 16 points coming after the intermission. He made 8-of-12 field goals and also had four rebounds in 28 minutes off the bench. Anthony "Humpty" Hitchens was the only other Zip to score in double figures, tallying a career-high 10 on the strength of a 4-for-8 performance from the field in his second-straight start. Four Akron players scored six points each, with Chris McKnight, Nate Linhart, Darryl Roberts and Steve McNees doing so. Chris McKnight, older brother of Brett, also had a career-best five assists

Akron shot 46 percent (23-of-50) from the floor and made 3-of-4 attempts (75 percent) from the line, but turned the ball over a season-high 18 times and got outrebounded 32-22. EKU converted 50 percent (25-of-50) from the field and committed 19 turnovers of its own.

The Zips led 12-7 in the opening minutes, but the Colonels outscored them 25-13 over the remainder of the period and held UA without a field goal for a six-minute stretch. UA shot 37.5 percent (9-of-24) from the floor in the first half, compared to 56 percent (14-of-25) by EKU.

The game was tied eight times and featured four lead changes.

Akron takes on Fairleigh Dickinson (0-4) tomorrow at 7 p.m. EST in its final game of the Legends Classic.