HUNTINGTON, W. Va. – Toledo rode a red-hot shooting first half and saw six players score in double figures en route to a 96-70 triumph at Marshall on Sunday afternoon before a crowd of 5,645 at the Cam Henderson Center.
"We're a very unselfish team and we shared the ball really well today," Head Coach
Tod Kowalczyk said. "It was great to get contributions from a lot of different players. That's what you need to do to win on the road against a very talented team. We're not 26 points better than Marshall, but it was just one of those games where we started strong and kept pushing."
Junior
Spencer Littleson, who tallied a career-high 27 points and team-best three steals, spearheaded the Rockets' offensive onslaught in the opening 20 minutes. He finished 6-of-8 from three-point range with five of his triples coming in the first half.
"Spencer is a great shooter and hit some open shots early," Kowalczyk said. "He played really hard today and gave us a spark on the defensive end as well."
Junior
Dylan Alderson enjoyed a breakout outing as well by tallying career bests in points (17) and rebounds (10). Senior
Willie Jackson also produced a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards to help Toledo dominate the glass by a 43-29 margin.
Junior
Marreon Jackson distributed a team-high eight assists to guide the efficient Rocket attack. Toledo shot 51.5 percent from the field and knocked down 14-of-25 three-point attempts.
Jackson also added 12 points and was joined in double digits by senior
Luke Knapke (15 pts.) and redshirt freshman
Keshaun Saunders (12 pts.).
Junior Jarrod West and sophomore Taevion Kinsey each scored 20 points to pace the Thundering Herd attack.
Toledo led by as many as 23 points in the opening stanza and took its first double-digit lead, 23-12, following an Alderson trey with 12:35 remaining in the first half. The Rockets extended their cushion to 20 points 38-18, on a Littleson three-point bomb less than three minutes later. The Rockets took a 55-34 lead to the locker room when
Marreon Jackson buried a trey five seconds before intermission.
Toledo's lead didn't dip below 14 points in the second half. West brought the Thundering Herd within 63-49 with 12:48 remaining, but Alderson's three-point play capped off a 7-1 spurt for a 70-50 advantage with 10:34 to play.
Toledo will return to action next weekend when it hosts Robert Morris (Nov. 16) and Howard (Nov. 17) as part of the Men Against Breast Cancer Invitational. Tip-off time for both contests is 2:00 p.m.
HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST HALF
- Spencer Littleson hit his first two shots with corner treys for an early 6-1 lead.
- Dylan Alderson's three-pointer provided the Rockets their first double-digit lead, 23-12 with 12:35 remaining in the first half.
- Back-to-back treys from redshirt freshman Keshaun Saunders increased Toledo's lead to 32-16 less than two minutes later.
- Littleson drained three free throws with 1:26 left in the half for a 52-29 cushion, the Rockets' largest in the opening 20 minutes.
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SECOND HALF
- Dylan Alderson paced the Rocket attack in the second half with 14 points.
- Alderson buried a trey for a 62-42 lead with 15:19 remaining and converted a three-point play for a 70-50 advantage at the 10:34 mark.
- Saunders gave Toledo six double-digit scorers by hitting a trey for a 94-68 lead with 1:20 remaining.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- Toledo has won its last two games at Marshall and is 18-9 in its last 27 road games.
- The Rockets were 11-of-18 from three-point range in the first half.
- Toledo registered 11 steals and forced 17 turnovers in the contest.
- Redshirt freshman Keshaun Saunders has scored in double digits in each of his first two games as a Rocket. He has made 8-of-13 shots from three-point range.