Dec 13, 2003

Box Score| Quotes| Notes

DETROIT (AP) - Toledo (5-1) suffered its first loss of the season this afternoon with a 72-68 setback at Detroit (3-2). The Titans' victory was their 35th consecutive non-conference home win and their 78th in their last 83 home games.

Senior guard Keith Triplett led the Rockets with 17 points for the Rockets, who came into the game having won their first four road games. Senior forward Ricardo Thomas added a season-high 14 points, while sophomore guard Sammy Villegas tallied 11 points to mark the sixth straight game he has reached double figures.

Rulon Harris paced the Titans' offense 17 points and also came up with four steals. Jimmy Twyman came off the bench to score a career-high 15 points for Detroit, which also got 11 points from Elijah Warren.

The Titans' 8-0 run with less than four minutes remaining was the difference in the game after Triplett had evened the game at 57-57 with 4:27 remaining.

The teams traded the lead seven times in the last 10 minutes before Willie Wallace put back an offensive rebound to give Detroit a 59-57 lead with 3:30 to play. Toledo went scoreless for two minutes as the Titans pulled away.

Detroit led early thanks to a 10-0 run in the first six minutes, but an 11-0 Toledo spurt - coupled with 11 first-half turnovers by the Titans - left the Rockets ahead 30-28 at the break.

The Rockets had 11 giveaways in the second half, compared with six for Detroit.

Toledo returns to action with a trip to the Windy City to face DePaul on Saturday, Dec. 20.