Jan. 15, 2005

Box Score |  Notes

By The Associated Press

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) - Senior guard Keith Triplett scored 22 points to lead Toledo to an 83-74 win over Marshall on Saturday.

Sophomore guard Keonta Howell and sophomore forward Florentino Valencia also hit double figures for Toledo (7-7, 3-2 Mid-American Conference) with 17 and 15 points.

Marshall (3-11, 0-5) placed three players in double figures as A.W. Hamilton led the way with a career-high 20 points. Enoch Bunch scored 16 and Mark Patton added 13 for the Thundering Herd.

Howell had 10 straight points for the Rockets late in the second half, including a three-pointer as the shot clock was winding down to 58 seconds to give Toledo a 77-70 lead.

Howell's burst came after Hamilton had scored seven straight to set a new career-high and bring Marshall within two at 69-67 at the 4:15 mark of the second half.

Each time Marshall made a run, Toledo came back with a run of its own to gain its first road win of the season.

After falling behind 5-0 in the game's first two minutes, the Rockets went on a 12-0 run that gave UT the lead for the rest of the game. Toledo's lead stretched to 18 on four occasions in the first half and was buoyed by a 68.2 field-goal percentage.

Marshall rallied in the second half and cut the Toledo lead to three, 60-57, with 10:45 to go in the game, and then to two a few minutes later on a dunk by David Anderson to make the score 61-59. The Rockets then scored six out of the next seven points, and pushed their lead to seven, 67-60, with 5:45 to go in regulation.

Marshall again reduced UT's lead to two points at the 4:17 mark (69-67), but it would get no closer.

Howell hit a trey to give the Rockets a 72-67 lead with 3:20 remaining and then drove for a layup with 2:21 left after the Herd cut UT's lead to three.

After LaVar Carter hit one of two free throws to make it a four-point game, Howell put the final dagger in Marshall's coffin with a three-point bomb with just under a minute remaining.

Toledo will now be idle until Saturday, Jan. 22 when it visits arch-rival Bowling Green (10-3, 4-1 MAC) for the MAC TV Game of the Week. The contest will tip off at 6:00 p.m. from Anderson Arena.