ATHENS, OH – Senior forward Steve Taylor tallied a game-high 25 points and 15 rebounds on Tuesday evening to lead Toledo to a 79-76 road win over Ohio. The victory was the Rockets' second-straight win in The Convo and improves UT's overall record to 10-8 overall and 4-3 in conference play.

Taylor was joined in double digits by senior guard Jonathan Williams (15 pts.), sophomore forward Nate Navigato (12 pts.) and sophomore guard Jaelan Sanford (11 pts.).

Freshman forward Jason Carter paced the Bobcats with 20 points and seven rebounds with junior guard Jaaron Simmons tallying 17 points and a game-high 10 assists.

Taylor helped the Rockets own the glass as UT claimed a 35-27 advantage in the rebounding department.

UT registered a 53.6 field-goal percentage, including a 58.6 mark in the second stanza. Ohio shot 50 percent from the field in both halves.  The Rockets held a slight advantage at the charity stripe, knocking down 13-of-19 free throws compared to the Bobcats' 9-of-14 effort.

Ohio led for much of the opening stanza and UT was staring at an eight-point deficit on two different occasions in the first half. A Williams' layup brought the Midnight Blue and Gold within one, 35-34 , 1:12  before halftime but Carter's two free throws and sophomore forward Doug Taylor's layup allowed the hosts to take a 39-34 lead at intermission.

Toledo quickly fell behind 46-36 in the opening minutes of the second half, but a Taylor trey put the Rockets in front 49-48 at the 14:30 mark. Navigato followed with another three-point bomb to cap off UT's 16-2 spurt.

Ohio tried to rally but was able to take a one-point lead just twice over the next eight minutes. Taylor's three-point play put the Rockets ahead to stay, 70-67, with 5:21 remaining. Simmons hit a pair of free throws with 3:17 to play to cut UT's lead to 74-73, but Taylor's layup with 2:25 left put Toledo back up by three points.

After sophomore guard Jordan Dartis' layup rimmed out, Toledo grabbed a pair of offensive boards on its next possession that resulted in a pair of Navigato free throws for a 78-73 lead with 1:15 left.

Ohio's Gavin Block's corner trey 13 seconds later reduced UT's lead to 78-76 but the Rockets didn't allow the Bobcats to score the remainder of the contest.

Toledo returns home this weekend to host Northern Illinois in the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday, Jan. 28. The Rockets-Huskies contest will tip off at 2:00 p.m. with the UT women facing Central Michigan at 4:30 p.m.


Coach Kowalczyk's Post-Game Interview at Ohio


Steve Taylor Jr.'s Post-Game Interview at Ohio