March 8, 2004

Final Stats| Quotes| Notes

Toledo, OH - Sophomore guard Sammy Villegas scored a career-high 28 points as Toledo held on for a 91-88 victory over Central Michigan in first-round action of the Mid-American Conference Tournament at Savage Hall on Monday.

Villegas connected on 9-of-10 shots from the floor, including 6-of-7 from three-point range. Senior guard Keith Triplett added 17 points and six assists, senior forward Ricardo Thomas tied his season-high with 16 points and freshman forward Florentino Valencia tied his career-best with 14 points.

Toledo shot a red-hot 61.7 percent from the floor for the game. CMU also shot well, hitting on 54.7 percent of its shots. CMU was led by Gerrit Brigitha, who had 33 points on 13-of-14 from the field.

The victory advances No. 4 seed Toledo to a quarterfinal game vs. No. 5 seed Buffalo at 9:00 p.m. on Thursday at Gund Arena in Cleveland.

Toledo's victory was not sealed until Villegas hit a pair of free throws with six seconds left to give UT a three-point lead. CMU's T.J. Meerman three-point attempt with three seconds left rimmed out.

The Chippewas came out sizzling early and built a 45-32 lead with 5:41 to play in the first half before UT put on a late rally. Triplett hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to tie the score at 51-51 going into halftime. The rockets led by as many as nine points in the second half before Central rallied to take a 75-74 lead with 7:27 left.

But UT came right back with a jumper by Thomas and never trailed again.