TOLEDO, OH - Toledo couldn't slow down a hot-shooting Delaware team in a 77-69 setback tonight in Savage Hall. The Blue Hens came into the contest with a 39.3 team field-goal percentage but knocked down a season-high 58.7 percent of their shots. It also the highest shooting mark by a Rocket opponent this year.
The defeat drops the Rockets' record to 8-17, while Delaware improves to 12-15.
Junior guard Jonathan Amos led the Rockets with 16 points with senior forward Jerrah Young, junior guard Ridley Johnson and junior guard Tyrone Kent scoring 12 points apiece.
Junior guard Marc Egerson registered a double-double for the Blue Hens with 22 points and 12 boards to go along with six assists and was 5-of-6 from three-point range. Senior forward Herb Courtney added 18 points and was 7-for-8 from the field.
“I was very concerned with how we started tonight's game and then we just couldn't make enough plays at the end of the game,” Toledo Head Coach Stan Joplin said. “We didn't do the things we had been doing that made us successful at home.”
Toledo nearly rallied for a victory for a third straight game on its homecourt but couldn't overcome an eight-point second-half deficit. The Rockets trailed 63-56 with 9:15 remaining before a Johnson dunk and a Kent layup made it a three-point game with eight minutes to play.
UT then stopped the Blue Hens on their next five possessions but didn't score until Amos knocked down a jumper at the 4:40 mark. Courtney hit one of two free throws on Delaware's next trip on the court and Egerson nailed a triple to give the Blue Hens a 67-62 led with 3:54 remaining. Johnson answered with a trey 25 seconds later but Egerson responded with his fifth straight trey with three minutes left. The closest UT could come the rest of the way was two points.
“I got the sense before the game that the players thought we were going to win tonight just because we were at home,” Joplin said. “I tried to warn them that we needed to keep doing the little things to be successful but it just wasn't meant to be for us tonight.”
Toledo is now off until Saturday, Mar. 1 when it hosts MAC West Division leader Western Michigan (16-10, 9-3). The Broncos will visit DeKalb, IL to face Northern Illinois on Tuesday, Feb. 26 before meeting the Rockets.
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