PHILADELPHIA, PA - Saint Joseph's pulled away in the final two minutes to send Toledo to a 77-76 defeat in its opening game of the 2016-17 campaign. The contest was played before a sellout crowd of 4,200 fans in Hagan Arena.

Senior guard Jonathan Williams led Toledo in scoring with 18 points. He was joined in double figures by senior forward Steve Taylor Jr. and junior guard Daniel Dzierzawski who tallied 14 and 13 points, respectively, in their Rocket debuts.

Sophomore forward Nate Navigato grabbed a career-high eight rebounds to pace UT in the rebounding department. Taylor also hauled down seven boards to help UT hold a 38-32 advantage on the glass.

Junior guard Shavar Newkirk poured in a career-high 28 points to lead the Hawks offensively.

Taylor provided UT its final lead, 71-70, on a layup with 2:04 to play. The Hawks' Markell Lodge put the hosts back in front, 72-71, at the 1:42 mark. Dzierzawski's running jumper rimmed out with 1:09 to play and Newkirk buried a jumper on SJU's next possession to put UT down, 74-71, with 46 ticks on the clock.

Following a Rocket miss, Newkirk converted two free throws for a 76-71 lead with 25 seconds left. Sophomore guard Jaelan Sanford buried a trey as time expired to account for the final margin of victory.

The contest featured 28 lead changes, including 25 in the second half. Toledo led for the majority of the first half before the Hawks evened the score at 37-37 two minutes before halftime.   

Williams led the Rockets with 12 points in the opening stanza but only played 11 minutes after picking up two early fouls. He made his presence felt early with a trey to put UT up 9-4 just under four minutes into the game.

The Rockets maintained their advantage and another Williams' trey gave UT its largest lead of the evening, 32-24, five minutes before intermission.

Toledo returns to action on Tuesday, Nov. 15 when it hosts Youngstown State in Savage Arena. Tip-off time is set for 8:00 p.m.