University of Toledo
Ferris State (Exhibition)
Rockets Roll to 97-71 Exhibition Triumph Over Ferris State
11/7/2006 12:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 7, 2006
Final Stats
TOLEDO, OH - Toledo posted a 97-71 exhibition victory over Ferris State tonight in its opening contest of the 2006-07 campaign. Senior forward Keonta Howell paced the Rockets with 24 points, with the sophomore trio of Jonathan Amos (14 pts.), Tyrone Kent (13 pts.) and Ridley Johnson (12 pts.) also scoring in double figures.
All 10 Rockets who saw action in the game scored with seven players tallying seven or more points as UT shot 62.7 percent from the field and 50.0 percent (8-of-16) from three-point range. Toledo started slowly before scoring seven straight points to take a 16-9 advantage just under seven minutes into the contest.
The Rockets' lead stayed primarily in single digits until taking a 47-27 lead with 1:35 remaining before halftime. Kent closed out the half with a thundering dunk as UT took a 51-30 lead at intermission thanks to a 67.7 first-half shooting percentage.
The Bulldogs were never were able to reduce UT's lead to under 20 points the rest of the way and were led by senior forward Terrance Shaw's 27 points and senior forward Michael Daniels' double-double of 14 points and 13 rebounds.
"We scored a lot of points tonight but we still have a lot of things to work on," Toledo Head Coach Stan Joplin said. "I was really disappointed with our rebounding because we stood around too much. On defense, we have to do a better job preventing teams from attacking the basket. In a game like this when you get a big lead I think the players get out of sync a little bit and they don't think about what we need to do to win games."
Toledo utilized its depth throughout the contest with Kent playing a team-high 26 minutes and Howell and Amos playing 24 minutes apiece. Howell led the Rockets with five rebounds, Amos collected a team-high three steals and Kent blocked a team-best two shots.
"I think we can improve even more than what we showed tonight," Howell said. "We could have had more post touches, but I think we did pretty well for our first game. They were trying to deny Tino the ball inside because he's a good shooter. Even though teams try to do that we still have to work to get him the ball."
The Rockets will open the 2006-07 regular season on Saturday, Nov. 11 at Missouri Valley Conference foe Missouri State. The contest will tip off at 7:00 p.m. CST.
