Balanced Attack Propels Rockets to 73-57 Victory over Eastern Michigan

Tuesday, February 7

Toledo, OH

7:00 p.m.

University of Toledo

12-12 (5-6MAC)

Eastern Michigan

13-11 (5-6MAC)

Eastern Michigan

TOLEDO

Photo by: Toledo Athletics

Balanced Attack Propels Rockets to 73-57 Victory over Eastern Michigan

2/7/2017 10:02:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Final Stats (PDF)Post-Game Notes

TOLEDO, OH – Toledo utilized some pinpoint passing and red-hot shooting on Tuesday evening to register a convincing 73-57 triumph over Eastern Michigan in Savage Arena. The victory pulled the Rockets to within a game of first place in the Mid-American Conference's West Division.

Sophomore forward Nate Navigato came off the bench to lead a balanced Rocket attack with 16 points. He was joined in double figures by senior guard Jordan Lauf (career-high 15 pts.), senior guard Jonathan Williams (14 pts.), sophomore guard Jaelan Sanford (12 pts.) and senior forward Steve Taylor, Jr. (10 pts).

Toledo (12-12, 5-6 MAC) also received a balanced effort on the boards en route to a commanding 38-29 advantage on the glass. Redshirt freshman center Luke Knapke tied his season high with nine rebounds, while Lauf and Taylor each grabbed eight caroms.

UT shot 52.8 percent from the field, including a scorching season-high 64.3 percent in the second half, and tied its season high with 23 assists on 28 field goals. The Midnight Blue and Gold also buried 10-of-20 three-point field goal attempts with Lauf and Navigato each draining three treys.

Sanford paced the Rockets with six assists and committed zero turnovers in 36 minutes, while Williams and Knapke tallied five and four helpers, respectively.

The Rockets held EMU's leading scorer, senior guard Willie Mangum IV, to 11 points on 5-of-14 shooting. Senior guard Ty Toney was the Eagles' only other double-digit scorer with a team-high 13 points.

Eastern Michigan (13-11, 5-6 MAC) shot 39.1 percent from the field and 20.0 percent (3-of-15) from three-point range en route to its third straight defeat.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair in the early going with seven lead changes in the opening 12 minutes. The Rockets couldn't extend their lead to more than three points though until a Navigato layup with 2:41 to play in the first half gave UT a 26-22 advantage. Neither team would score the remainder of the opening stanza to allow Toledo to take a four-point margin to the locker room.

The Rockets maintained a single-digit advantage until back-to-back layups from Taylor and Williams put UT in front by 13 points, 48-35, with 11:32 to play. The closest the Eagles could come the remainder of the contest was 54-47 following back-to-back buckets from Toney.

Toledo quickly responded though with a Knapke layup and back-to-back treys from Lauf and Navigato for an 8-0 spurt that put the game away.

The Rockets return to action on Saturday, Feb. 11 with a matinee game vs. Kent State (13-11, 5-6 MAC). Tip-off time is set for 2:00 p.m. with the contest being televised nationally on the CBS Sports Network.