Cleveland, OH -- (Sports Network) - Haminn Quaintance scored a game-high 16 points and grabbed six rebounds as Kent State thrashed Akron, 74-55, to win the Mid-American Conference Tournament.

Mike Scott added 14 points and 13 boards for the top-seeded Golden Flashes (28-6), who earned an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament and their first- ever three-game season sweep of the Zips.

Kent State was making its sixth appearance in the title game in eight years, and seventh in the last 11. Overall, it was the 10th finals appearance (5-5), but the first against local rival Akron.

Chris Singletary chipped in 13 points and Al Fisher had 12 in the win.

Jeremiah Wood had a team-high 13 points for the third-seeded Zips (23-10), who dropped the title game for the second straight year and have not appeared in the NCAA tourney since 1986.

The game was a see-saw matchup in the early going, and a Scott dunk at 12:53 made it 13-all.

Neither side was able to garner the momentum, however, until the Golden Flashes used an 11-1 push to make it 28-20 with 4:11 left. Rashad Woods capped things with a shot from long distance, and the Zips called a timeout in an attempt to regroup.

Akron then struggled the rest of the way -- missing its last six field goals and three foul shots -- and trailed 33-20 at the break.

KSU kept the pressure on at the start of the second half, and the lead grew to 40-25 on a Quaintance layup at 16:59.

Akron never made a game of it down the stretch, getting only as close as 51-41 on a Nate Linhart layup with 8:22 remaining.

Game Notes

Akron shot a dismal 30.8 percent (16-of-52) in the contest, including 5-of-22 from beyond the arc...Kent State made 50.9 percent of its shots (27-of-53) and was 16-of-18 from the charity stripe...The Golden Flashes held the edge on the boards, 40-30.