SETTING THE SCENE
       No. 2 seed Toledo (23-10, 13-5 MAC) makes its first Mid-American Conference Tournament championship game appearance since 2014 (and sixth in program history) when it faces No. 1 seed Buffalo (25-8, 15-3 MAC) tonight in Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena. A win over the Bulls would give the Rockets their first MAC Tournament title and NCAA Tournament appearance in 38 years. Tip-off time is set for 7:00 p.m. on ESPN2.
       Freshman Marreon Jackson nailed a three-point field goal with nine seconds left to lift Toledo to a dramatic 64-63 victory over Eastern Michigan in last night's semifinals. Jackson's clutch three-pointer was his eighth triple of the evening, a career-high and Toledo tournament record, helping him rack up a career-best 26 points on the evening. Sophomore Willie Jackson, added a career-high 18 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two steals for his third career double-double.
 
QUICK HITTERS
• Toledo is making its second appearance in the MAC Tournament Championship Game under Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk. The Rockets fell to No. 1 seed Western Michigan in the 2014 title contest.
• The Rockets won the first MAC Tournament ever with an 85-70 win over Bowling Green in Ann Arbor, Mich. UT also appeared in the finals vs. EMU in 1991 and 1996, Kent State in 2006 and WMU in 2014.
• UT has received a first-round bye and won 20 or more games in three of the last five years. The Rockets have a 104-61 record (.630) and are averaging 20.8 wins per season in that time period.
• The Rockets' 23 victories are tied for third most in school history. Toledo won a school-record 27 games under Coach Kowalczyk in the 2013-14 campaign.
• UT possesses a 1-2 win-loss mark against Buffalo in the MAC Tournament. The Rockets and Bulls have split their two meetings in Quicken Loans Arena. Toledo posted a 97-85 win in the 2004 MAC Quarterfinals, while Buffalo notched an 85-72 victory in the 2005 MAC Quarterfinals.
• Toledo's 12 three-point field goals last night were a school MAC Tournament game record. Marreon Jackson's eight treys were two shy of the tourney record held by Miami's Jason Stewart in 2002.
• Sophomore Luke Knapke tied a school MAC Tournament record with four blocks held by Craig Rodgers vs. Northern Illinois on March 1, 2000. Knapke also grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds last night after taking a career-high 13 field-goal attempts vs. Miami on Thursday evening.
• Junior Jaelan Sanford moved into 26th place past Tyrone Kent (2005-09) on UT's all-time scoring list last night and now has 1,257 career points. The Evansville, Ind. native will be making his 100th straight start in tonight's contest.
• Junior Nate Navigato became the 46th Rocket to score 1,000 career points and now has 1,001 in his UT career. He also has a school-record 92 three-point field goals this season, three more than former Rocket Nick Moore registered in the 2002-03 campaign.

A FEW MORE QUICK HITTERS
• Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk is tied with Harold Anderson (1934-42) for third place on the Rockets' all-time win list with 142 victories. Bob Nichols (1965-87) holds the record with 376 with Stan Joplin (1996-2008) second with 203.
• UT has 320 three-point field goals this season, 57 more than the previous record of 263 in 2015-16. The Rockets also have a school-record 131 blocked shots, 23 more than the previous record of 108 in 2014-15.
• Toledo has shot 50 percent or better from the field in 10 games this season.
• In Thursday's win over Miami, Toledo tied its season low with four three-point field goals and posted a season-low 17.4 3PTFG% . Last night, the Rockets responded with a 12-of-22 three-point effort (54.5%) in their win over Eastern Michigan.
• Toledo is 20-1 this season when outshooting its opponent and 16-3 when holding its opponent to a 45.0 FG% or lower.
• The Rockets are 13-0 when holding their opponent under 70 points.
• Toledo is 7-2 in games decided by five points or less after posting a 6-8 record in similar contests last year. In addition, the Rockets were 1-7 last year in games decided by three points or less.
• Toledo is 4-0 vs. Eastern Michigan in Quicken Loans Arena.
 
LOOKING BACK AT FIRST MEETING
       Toledo shot over 50 percent from the field and three-point range but 16 turnovers proved to be too much to overcome in Toledo's 104-94 loss at Buffalo in its Mid-American Conference opener on Jan. 2.
       Tre'Shaun Fletcher paced Toledo offensively with 27 points but was saddled with foul trouble much of the evening and played just 25 minutes. Sanford contributed 18 points and a team-high five assists, while Willie Jackson tallied his first collegiate double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
       A trio of Bulls each topped the 20-point plateau with junior C.J. Massinburg leading the way with 27 points. He was joined by senior Wes Clark (25 pts.) and junior Nick Perkins (24 pts., 10 reb.).
       Both teams were efficient shooting the basketball with UT posting a 54.1 field-goal percentage and the Bulls converting at a 53.8 percent clip. The Rockets also hit 10-of-20 three-point attempts, with UB knocking down 7-of-20 from behind the arc.
       Buffalo enjoyed a significant edge at the charity stripe as it converted 87.1 percent (27-of-31) of its free throws, nearly 20 percentage points higher than its season average. UT entered the contest with a 74.6 free-throw percentage and went to the line nearly the same amount but converted just 60 percent (18-of-30).