TOLEDO, OH – Ball State buried 14 three-point field goals on Tuesday evening to send Toledo to an 82-74 setback on Senior Night in Savage Arena. The loss dropped the Rockets' record to 15-15 overall (8-9 MAC), while the Cardinals improved to 19-11 overall (10-7 MAC) to remain tied for first place in the MAC's West Division.
 
Senior guard Jonathan Williams paced Toledo offensively with 23 points to move into fifth place on UT's all-time scoring list with 1,707 points. Senior forward Steve Taylor, Jr. also was in double figures with 17 points to go along with 15 rebounds for his 22^nd double-double of the season.
 
Sophomore guard Tayler Persons spearheaded BSU's long-distance marksmanship with a career-high six treys (all in the first half) en route to a 31-point outing.
 
Joining Persons in double digits were senior forward Franko House (17 pts.), senior forward Ryan Weber (14 pts.) and junior guard Francis Kiapway (12 pts.).
 
Toledo shot 40.6 percent from the field, 21.7 percent (5-of-23) from three-point range and 85.0 percent (17-of-20) from the free-throw line. Ball State posted a 44.6 FG%, 45.2 3PTFG% and 66.7 FT% (10-of-15). The Rockets also held a 43-37 advantage in the rebounding department.
 
Ball State led the entire contest thanks to Persons' quick start. He opened the contest with a pair of three-pointers and registered each of his treys in the game's first seven-and-a-half minutes.
 
Senior guard Jordan Lauf's three-point play cut the visitors' lead to 12-11 with 15:07 left in the first half, but a Persons' trey capped a 10-2 Cardinal spurt to put UT down 22-13 just over two minutes later.
 
Toledo then rallied to within two points, 33-31, on a Taylor jumper at the 3:41 mark of the first half before Kiapway answered with a pair of threes to put the Rockets down eight. UT was able to climb back within three points but a Persons' jumper gave the Cardinals a 41-36 halftime lead.
 
The Cardinals continued their red-hot shooting as four treys in the opening 3:15 of the second half extended BSU's lead to 52-38.
 
Toledo rallied later in the half with an 8-0 burst to cut its deficit to 68-64 on sophomore forward Taylor Adway's fadeaway jumper in the lane with 4:51 remaining. That was as close as UT could come though as Ball State converted 9-of-11 free throws down the stretch.
 
Toledo wraps up its regular season on Friday, March 3 with a trip to Ypsilanti, MI to face Eastern Michigan (15-15, 7-10 MAC). Tip-off time is set for 7:00 p.m. with the game being televised on ESPN3.


Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk post-game comments