Ali scores 20 to lift Akron over Ball St. 88-79

MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) — Ali Ali had a career-high 20 points as Akron defeated Ball State 88-79 on Friday night.

Bryan Trimble Jr. had 19 points for Akron (14-4, 12-3 Mid-American Conference), which earned its fourth straight win. Camron Reece added 16 points. Enrique Freeman had 12 points and three blocks. Loren Cristian Jackson had a career-high 11 assists plus 12 points.

Loren Cristian Jackson, whose 21 points per game entering the contest led the Zips, shot only 17 percent in the game (2 of 12).

Ishmael El-Amin had 20 points for the Cardinals (7-11, 5-8). Brachen Hazen added 18 points. K.J. Walton had 12 points.

The Zips improve to 2-0 against the Cardinals on the season. Akron defeated Ball State 74-42 on Jan. 30.

___

For more AP college basketball coverage: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and http://twitter.com/AP_Top25

___

This was generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com