AKRON, Ohio – Akron shot 44 free throws, four Ohio players fouled out and the Zips pulled out a 68-63 victory against the Bobcats on Saturday at James A. Rhodes Arena.

Seven-footer Zeke Marshall scored 17 points and grabbed six rebounds as Ohio forwards Ivo Baltic, Reggie Keely and Jon Smith all were limited by fouls and all eventually were disqualified. Brett McClanahan and Nick Harney had 10 points apiece for the Zips (11-6, 3-0 Mid American Conference).

In a balanced effort, D.J. Cooper led the Bobcats (13-4, 1-2 MAC) with 13 points but was just 2 of 15 from the field. Walter Offutt and Nick Kellogg each scored 11 points and Ivo Baltic had 10 points.

Ohio led the majority of the game, but never by more than five points. Akron finally gained the lead and held it for good on an Alex Abreu 3-pointer that made it 59-57 with 3:58 remaining.

“I think we’re trying to break the record for having the lead less than any other team in the world,” said Akron coach Keith Dambrot, whose team also trailed until the final minutes in their first two MAC victories.

Abreu got his only other points of the game, getting to the bucket for a basket with 1:41 remaining that put the Zips up by four.

After a missed 3-pointer by Cooper, Quincy Diggs hit two free throws and later Nikola Cvetinovic connected on a foul shot with 1:14 left to extend Akron’s lead to 64-57.

Cooper missed a shot in the paint and fouled Zeke Marshall after he got the rebound. Both were charged with technical fouls, and a few seconds later, Diggs was whistled for a technical that put Kellogg at the line for two free throws. He made both, as did McClannahan, who replaced Marshall because the technical was his fifth personal.

Cooper made a free throw with 30 seconds left and attempted to miss the second intentionally but was whistled for a lane violation.

After Ohio was forced to foul, Diggs missed twice and T.J. Hall got a look from beyond the arc but missed. Ricardo Johnson eventually came up with the loose ball and converted a three-point play with 1.9 seconds left, making it a three-point game again.

But the Bobcats were not able to get a steal and instead fouled Cvetinovic, who made both free throw attempts to finally lock up the Zips victory.

“I thought our guys exhibited a lot of toughness and togetherness,” Ohio coach John Groce said. “It was a really hard game to play with 51 fouls. … I was really proud of our effort. We stuck together. We have to learn from it. … I thought our guys this week played as hard as they have all season.”

The whistles, though, were not blown in favor of the Bobcats, who were called for 31 fouls, leading to 29 made free throws by the Zips. In addition to the three forwards fouling out, Offutt also was disqualified and Cooper was charged with four fouls.

Marshall shot 11 free throws, making seven of them.

“The ref started talking to me about some of the stuff I do to prevent people from fouling me,” Marshall said. “I usually try to keep people’s arms off me. He told me, ‘Stop doing that and I’ll start calling fouls for you. I’ll make sure of it.’ I started doing it and I kept getting foul after foul.”

A Brian Walsh free throw game the Zips their first lead, 21-20, late in the first half, but it did not last long, as Stevie Taylor knocked down a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession for Ohio.

Chauncey Gilliam later gave the Zips a 29-27 advantage with 33 seconds left before halftime, but after Taylor’s attempt to drive to the hoop was swatted out of bounds by Marshall with 1 second left, Ohio called a timeout and set up a play that led to a Kellogg 3-pointer to give the Bobcats a 30-29 lead at the break.

Ohio led by as much as five in the second half, 40-35, on a Kellogg triple at the 15:15 mark, but Diggs answered with a 3-pointer. The lead was five again, 49-44, midway through the half on a steal that led to an Offutt layup, but Akron answered back with a Marshall dunk.

“What you have to do is win in the last three or four minutes,” Akron coach Keith Dambrot said. “It comes down to intangibles. … That’s really what separates the good teams from the bad teams.”

Akron made 18 of 40 shots (45.0 percent) in the game, including 3 of 11 from 3-point range. Ohio was just 22 of 62 (35.5 percent) and 5 of 21 (23.8 percent) from beyond the arc.

The Zips committed 16 turnovers, compared to only nine by the Bobcats. Ohio only converted those turnovers into 10 points, but it did hold a 15-9 advantage in second-chance points.

“When you call that many fouls, it starts to center around the free throw line and I think it did,” Offutt said. “I think they probably hit and took a lot more free throws than we did. Like Coach says, the most aggressive team usually wins the game.”

Ohio will try to even its record in MAC play in a 7 p.m. home game Wednesday against Kent State.