TOLEDO, OH – Toledo regrouped from letting a 21-point second-half lead slip away to post a 103-98 (OT) victory over Youngstown State in its home opener on Tuesday evening.
Senior guard
Jonathan Williams topped the Rockets' offensive attack with 25 points, while senior forward
Steve Taylor Jr. tallied a career-high 22 points and 23 rebounds in his first game in Savage Arena. Taylor's 23 boards are tied for seventh-most in school history and broke the Savage Arena record of 22 held by Tim Schirra vs. East Carolina on Dec. 19, 1992.
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Also scoring in double digits were junior guard
Daniel Dzierzawski with 19 points and senior guard
Jordan Lauf with a career-high 13 points.
Junior guard Cameron Morse propelled the Penguins with 40 points with 34 of those coming after halftime.
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Toledo never trailed in regulation during the contest and YSU took its first lead on Devin Haygood's free throw 16 seconds into overtime. Morse's three-point play put the Penguins up 94-91 two minutes later but two free throws each from Williams and Dzierzawski gave the Midnight Blue and Gold a 95-94 advantage with just under two minutes to play. UT finally took the lead for good, 101-98, with 16 seconds left following Williams' two free throws and a Dzierzawski runner.
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Toledo jumped on Youngstown State early, scoring the game's first 10 points in less than three minutes thanks to a dunk from senior center
Zach Garber, a three-point play from Lauf, a trey from Williams and two more free throws from Lauf. The Rockets took their largest lead of the opening stanza when Taylor's layup put UT up 17 points, 32-15, 5:32 before intermission.
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Williams' trey and Taylor's layup to open the second half gave Toledo its biggest lead of the contest, 48-27, just over a minute into the second half. The Rockets' cushion remained in double digits until YSU put together a 14-2 run to cut its deficit to 74-68 with 4:42 remaining.
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UT still held an 85-78 advantage with 25 seconds left following a Williams' three-point play. The Penguins then buried three deep treys, including a pair from Morse, and took advantage of two UT misses at the free-throw line to send the game to overtime tied at 87-87.
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Toledo returns to action on Saturday, Nov. 19 when it visits Dayton, OH to battle Wright State (2-0). Tip-off time is set for 7:00 p.m.
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