VALPARAISO, Ind. – The University of Akron men's basketball team gave up an 18-point first half lead en route to a 74-66 loss at Valparaiso on Saturday in a non-conference game derived from the ESPNU BracketBusters pool.

Nate Linhart nailed a 3-pointer with 6:29 to play in the opening period to give Akron (17-10) its biggest margin of the night at 37-19, but Valparaiso (8-20) used a 10-0 run to get back into the game and trailed 45-40 at the intermission.The Zips remained in control throughout the early going of the second half, pushing their lead to eight points on two occasions.

A basket by Howard Little pulled Valpo within 55-53, and a bucket and free throw by Urule Igbavboa tied the game at 59 with 9:18 left in regulation. Four minutes later, a layup by Michael Rogers gave the Crusaders their first lead of the game at 63-62 and Akron never caught up. Little made the final margin with a layup with 14 seconds to go.

The Crusaders had five double-figure scorers, with Little leading the group with 17 points and seven rebounds. De'Andre Haskins had 12 points and six boards, while Igbavboa and Cameron Witt had 11 points apiece, and Rogers and Jake Diebler both had 10 points.

Nate Linhart led the Zips with 13 points and Chris McKnight had 12 points. Linhart made 6-of-8 field goals and had two assists, one blocked shot and one steal. His blocked shot gave him 50 in his 125 game career at UA and moved him into the top 10 on the school's career list in that category.

Akron shot 48.8 percent (21-of-43) from the field and 72 percent (18-of-25) from the line. Valpo made 51.1 percent (23-of-45) of its shots from the floor and 64.9 percent (24-of-37) from the charity stripe. The Zips had 18 turnovers, compared to 15 by the Crusaders, and were out-rebounded 32-25. Valparaiso scored 23 points off UA's miscues.

Akron (8-4 MAC) resumes Mid-American Conference competition on Thursday, when it travels to league-leader Buffalo (17-3, 9-3 MAC) for a 7 p.m. EST contest at Alumni Arena.