AKRON,
OH - Toledo put up a strong fight on Saturday evening at Mid-American Conference
East Division co-leader Akron but it wasn't enough as the Rockets suffered a
59-45 setback at James A. Rhodes Arena.
UT
(3-18, 0-7 MAC) found itself trailing 40-36 with eight minutes to go in the game
following a driving layup from freshman G Josh Freelove, but Akron (15-6, 5-2
MAC) reeled off a 15-2 run over the next three minutes to eliminate any thoughts
of a Rocket comeback.
Turnovers proved costly for UT as it committed 17 miscues as opposed to
the Zips' six. Akron took full advantage and outscored the Rockets by a 20-0
margin in points off turnovers.
"Turnovers were the story of the game, especially when Akron made its run
in the second half," Toledo Head Coach Gene Cross said. "I thought we competed
hard tonight but we ended up giving them too many easy baskets with our
mistakes."
Freshman guards Malcolm
Griffin and Jake Barnett led
Toledo offensively with 13 and 11 points, respectively. In total, UT's freshman
class accounted for 34 of the team's 45 points.
Sophomore guard Anthony Hitchens paced the Zips with 13 points, with
sophomore F Nikola Cvetinovic contributing 10 points and a team-high six
rebounds.
UT
outrebounded Akron by a 33-28 margin, marking the first time in a MAC contest
that the Rockets have held the upperhand on the boards. Junior F Justin
Anyijong led Toledo with a game-high nine rebounds.
The
Rockets also limited the Zips to a 42.1 field-goal percentage, including 21.7
percent (5-of-23) from three-point range.
"I
thought our defensive effort was good," Cross said. "We grew up a little bit in
both our defense and rebounding and it was good to see us take that step
forward."
Toledo
enjoyed a solid start to the contest and trailed by just an 11-10 margin with
eight minutes remaining in the first half. The Zips then turned up the heat
defensively with their full-court pressure, resulting in an 11-2 spurt and a
10-point advantage. UT hung in the remainder of the opening stanza though and
trailed 27-19 at intermission.
Toledo
has a quick turnaround and will make the short trip down I-75 to battle
arch-rival Bowling Green on Monday, Feb. 1. Tip-off time is 7:00 p.m.
