The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

GARVIN Clarke and the Akron Zips made history by winning the Mid-American Conference Tournament and now look ahead to the first round of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament this week.

The Zips were named the no.13 seed in the East Region and will face the no. 4 seed UCLA Bruins in the first round Thursday at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon.

Time and broadcast providers have yet to be determined.

The winner of this game will go on to face either the no.6 Saint Mary’s Gaels of the West Coast Conference or the winner of the no.11 seed play-in game between the Mountain West Conference’s Wyoming Cowboys or the Big Ten Conference’s Indiana Hoosiers.

The Zips have never won an NCAA Tournament game while UCLA, fresh off a Final Four berth last year, has more tournament championships than any other programme.

The Bruins finished the regular season (25-7, 15-5 PAC-12) ranked at no.13 in the country and advanced to the Pac-12 Championship game.

The Zips (24-9) won their fourth MAC Tournament title in school history and first since the 2012-13 season to earn an automatic bid. On Saturday night, Clarke scored 11 points off the bench and shot 3-5 from three-point range in a 75-55 victory over rival Kent State in the championship game of the Mid-American Conference at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio.

Clarke is averaging 3.2 points and 2.4rebounds per game in 23 appearances off the bench. He scored a career high 12 points in a November 18 win over Wheeling. He also had nine point outings in back to back games on February 22 and 25.

Clarke made his Bahamas senior men’s national basketball team debut last November at the FIBA World Cup 2023 Americas Pre-Qualifiers for Group A.

At the prep level, Clarke completed his high school career with Cleveland Heights Tigers after spending his previous seasons with the Euclid Panthers, both in Cleveland, Ohio.

The 6’0” point guard was listed as a three-star recruit by several recruiting services and chose Akron over Buffalo, Cleveland State, Florida A&M and Youngstown State.