Toledo, Ohio – Senior guard Jaelan Sanford scored 22 points and junior Luke Knapke added 21 points and a career-high 13 rebounds to give Toledo (16-4, 4-3 MAC) a 76-72 victory over Central Michigan (14-6, 3-4 MAC) in Savage Arena Saturday night. The victory moved the Rockets into a first-place tie in the MAC's West Division with Northern Illinois (11-9, 4-3 MAC).
 
        The game wasn't settled until the final moments when senior forward Nate Navigato made a pair of free throws to give Toledo a 74-70 lead with six seconds left. CMU made a quick layup but was unable to foul on the ensuing inbounds as sophomore guard Marreon Jackson completed a long pass to junior forward Willie Jackson for a dunk at the buzzer.
 
        Willie Jackson (12 points, 11 rebounds) joined Knapke with a double-double for the contest. Marreon Jackson added 14 points.

Senior guard Larry Austin, Jr. paced the Chippewas with 18 points (on 7-of-19 shooting) and also dished out a team-high seven assists.
 
        Toledo outrebounded CMU, 51-41, and held the Chippewas to just 26-of-71 shooting (36.6 percent) from the floor. Toledo's defense added a school-record 11 blocked shots, led by four from Knapke and three by Willie Jackson.
             
FIRST HALF

• Central Michigan came out of the first media timeout with a 15-2 run capped off by a jumper from David Dileo, forcing Toledo to call a timeout trailing 17-7 with 11:57 remaining in the first half.
•  Toledo responded with a 10-2 spurt to cut the lead to 19-17. Luke Knapke had six points in the run.
•  The Rockets took the lead with a 7-0 burst that started with a three-point-jump shot by Jaelan Sanford to make the score 24-21 with 5:47 left in the half.
• Toledo took a 34-30 lead into the locker room at halftime.
• Sanford led the Rockets with 14 points in the half.
• The Rockets outrebounded the Chippewas 28-16 in the first 20 minutes.

SECOND HALF

• Toledo came out of the locker room with a 9-2 run capped off by Sanford's jumper and made free throw to give the Rockets their largest lead of the evening - a 43-32 cushion with 16:56 left to play.
• The Chippewas took a 53-51 on a three-pointer by Rob Montgomery that capped a 9-2 run with 11:11 remaining.
•  The Rockets responded with a 7-0 spurt capped off by a three-point jump shot from Marreon Jackson to take a 58-53 lead with 8:11 remaining.
•  The teams traded baskets until CMU tied the game at 67-67 with a three-point-shot by Dallas Morgan with 2:10 left.
•  An alley-oop slam by Luke Knapke from Marreon Jackson gave the Rockets a 71-67 with 15 seconds remaining.
• CMU had the ball with Toledo leading 72-69 with 10 seconds left when Coach Tod Kowalczyk opted to foul. CMU's Shawn Roundtree split a pair of free throws to trim the lead to 72-70.
• A pair of free throws by Nate Navigato gave the Rockets a 74-70 lead with six seconds left. CMU cut the lead to 74-72 on a quick layup by Larry Austin but was unable to stop the clock with a foul as Willie Jackson put an exclamation point on the victory with a slam dunk at the buzzer.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• The Rockets have won their last four meetings vs. the Chippewas. 
• Toledo's 11 blocked shots were one more than the previous school record established vs. Detroit Mercy on Feb. 10, 1992. The Rockets' record for rejections in a MAC contest was nine.
• A pair of Rockets collected double-doubles in a game for the first time since Jordan Lauf (16 pts.-14 reb.) and Steve Taylor, Jr. (15 pts.-10 reb.) did vs. CMU on Feb. 24, 2017.
• Willie Jackson's double-double was his eighth of the season.
• Luke Knapke is averaging 19.7 ppg and 9.3 rpg in his last three games.
• Toledo's five three-point field goals and 20.0 three-point FG% were both season lows.

UP NEXT

•  The Rockets travel to Miami on Tuesday to face the RedHawks in a 7:00 p.m. tipoff.

Highlights from UT's victory against Central Michigan.


Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk post-game.


Sophomore Marreon Jackson post-game.