TOLEDO, OH – Toledo bounced back from a loss in its Mid-American Conference opener with a convincing 84-67 triumph over Akron (10-5, 1-1 MAC) on Friday evening in Savage Arena.
The Rockets (9-6, 1-1 MAC) shot 56.3 percent from the field, including a sizzling 81.8 percent (9-of-11) from behind the three-point arc. That long-distance accuracy was UT's best ever in a conference contest and the second-best in school history.
Senior forward J.D. Weatherspoon paced a balanced Rockets attack with 17 points. He was joined in double figures by sophomore guard Jonathan Williams (15 pts., career-high six boards), senior guard Julius Brown (14 pts.) and senior guard Justin Drummond (13 pts.)
Drummond and junior center Nathan Boothe each grabbed a team-high seven rebounds to help Toledo control the glass by a 35-27 margin.
UT's aggressiveness on the offensive end resulted in a season-high 32 free-throw attempts, over twice as many as the Zips' 15 trips to the charity stripe.
The Rockets limited Akron to a 40.4 FG% and a 29.6 three-point FG% (8-of-27), including 2-of-12 from long range in the final 20 minutes.
Akron jumped out to an early 11-5 advantage thanks to a trio of three-pointers, but UT tallied eight in a row to take its first lead of 13-11. The lead then changed hands six more times before the Rockets ended the half with a 9-2 burst. Weatherspoon tallied seven points during that stretch, including a buzzer-beating 30-footer to give UT a 37-34 lead at halftime.
The Rockets carried that momentum into the second stanza with six more points and a 43-34 cushion. UT gained its first double-digit lead, 51-41, on a Williams' trey with 14:28 to play.
The Zips were able to reduce their deficit to four points on two separate occasions but couldn't come any closer. Toledo ended any hopes of an Akron comeback with a 10-2 burst that was capped off by another Williams' three-pointer for a 71-57 lead with 6:25 left.
The contest was played before a season-high 5,509 fans, including many youth groups that was made possible due to the donations of Midland Title, MT Business Technologies, Universal Urethane and Equity Planning Group.
The Rockets return to action on Wednesday, Jan. 14 with a trip to Athens, OH to battle Ohio University at 7:00 p.m. The Bobcats will play at Bowling Green on Saturday before returning home.
