TOLEDO, OH ? Toledo outfought MAC West Division leader Ball State in the final minutes on Wednesday night to post a 71-67 triumph over the Cardinals at Savage Arena. The victory snapped the Rockets' seven-game losing streak and also dropped BSU (11-13, 6-6 MAC) into a first-place tie with Western Michigan (9-16, 6-6 MAC) in the West standings.
UT's victory was its seventh straight over BSU in the Glass City and also ended a three-game home losing streak.
"I'm very happy to get this win for our guys," Toledo Head Coach Gene Cross said. "It's much better to go into the locker room and see our guys cheer, laugh and smile. We worked really hard tonight against a good team and I couldn't be happier. I thought we dug deep and we're very poised down the stretch. We played very good situation basketball."
Coming off UT's loss at Ohio when he was held scoreless, senior G Tyrone Kent led all scorers with 26 points (22 in the second half) and was one of four Rockets to score in double figures.
"I tell Ty quite a bit that he needs to start hunting shots," Cross said. "I don't mean that in a bad way. He just has a small window to take a good shot that it hurts him and us as a team when he doesn't. He's so conscientious about not being a selfish player which he isn't that he sometimes passes up shots that can really help him and our team. In order for us to be successful he has to take the opportunities that we try set up for him. To his credit, he sought those out and really hunted shots tonight."
Senior G Jonathan Amos (14 pts.), sophomore F Justin Anyijong (12 pts.) and sophomore F Mohamed Lo (10 pts.) also tallied double digits for the Midnight Blue and Gold.
Senior G Rob Giles led the Cardinals with a career-high 22 points and 12 rebounds to register his first career double-double. Freshman F Jarrod Jones (14 pts.), senior G Brandon Lampley (11 pts.) and freshman F Maurice Hubbard (10 pts.) also were in double figures for BSU.
"We wanted to take (Rob) Giles away a little bit after he started to get hot in the first half," Cross said. "We tried a box and one against him and they used some baseline screens which is a good offense against that. We kept switching up our defenses to try and give them something to think about."e
Kent put the Rockets ahead to stay, 64-62, with a traditional three-point play with 2:17 to play. Following a Cardinal turnover, freshman G Larry Bastfield drove the lane with the shot clock running out and found the bottom of the net for a 66-62 advantage with 1:11 remaining.
"We designed a play for Larry to come off a ball screen and create something," Cross said. "He was aggressive and attacked the screen the way he was supposed to and he hit what was probably the shot of the game. I tell Larry all the time that he needs to go out there and be aggressive creating shots for other people and for himself. It was good to see him do that tonight."
Following a pair of Ball State free throws with 40.8 seconds left, senior G Anthony Byrd knocked down one of two free throws for a 67-64 lead with 31.9 ticks on the clock. Giles answered with a layup 16 seconds later, but Kent drilled two free throws for a 69-66 cushion with 10.9 seconds remaining.
Kent then came up with a steal on the Cardinals' next possession and was fouled again with 6.2 seconds left. This time he missed both attempts from the charity stripe to give Ball State life. However, BSU could never get a shot off as Kent fouled Lampley at midcourt with 2.5 seconds remaining. Lampley made the first and intentionally missed the second, but Amos grabbed the rebound and made his ensuing two free throws to secure the victory.
UT emerged from the locker room at halftime on fire, eliminating a 33-26 halftime deficit with a 10-2 run in the first couple of minutes. Amos and Kent finished the big run with a pair of treys to force a Cardinal timeout.
Ball State regrouped and held a 55-52 lead with 8:11 to play when UT scored three straight baskets to take a three-point advantage, 58-55, with 5:39 remaining. The Cardinals then took advantage of back-to-back Rocket turnovers to regain a 59-58 lead.
The Rockets came out in the first half as well hitting their first three shots of the game. Ball State was also firing on all cylinders and the score was tied 7-7 two minutes into the contest.
Byrd's trey from the corner gave UT its largest lead of the evening at 14-9 a few minutes later. The Cardinals answered with a 12-1 run though to take a 21-15 advantage at the midpoint of the opening stanza. Jones began the spurt with a pair of baskets and Giles ended it with two layups.
Anyijong connected on his second trey of the opening stanza to bring UT within 21-18 and Lo's free throw made it a two-point contest at 26-24. Giles and Jones helped BSU finish the half strong though and take a 33-26 halftime lead.
The Rockets will now head to Terre Haute, IN to face Missouri Valley Conference foe Indiana State (8-19) on Saturday, Feb. 21. The Sycamores are on a four-game winning streak after ending a seven-game losing skid on Feb. 8.
