TOLEDO, Ohio – Toledo gave No. 24 Buffalo all it could handle on Friday evening but the Bulls rallied for an 88-82 victory over the Rockets. The game was played in front of a record crowd of 7,401, the largest since Savage Arena was renovated prior to the 2008-09 season. The defeat snapped UT's five-game winning streak and was just the Rockets' second home setback of the season.

Senior Jaelan Sanford topped Toledo with 24 points and 10 rebounds, while sophomore Marreon Jackson tallied 20 points. Junior Luke Knapke also finished in double figures with 11 points.

Senior Nick Perkins paced Buffalo by matching his career high with a game-high 26 points. He also tied for the team lead with 10 boards to help the Bulls to a 47-38 advantage in the rebounding department.

Both teams had comparable numbers in the shooting department but the Bulls converted 23-of-31 free throws compared to UT's 18-of-25 totals. The Rockets shot 44.6 percent from the field and 6-of-19 from three-point range, while Buffalo posted a 42.6 FG% and a 31.8 three-point FG% (7-of-22).
 
First Half

• The Rockets started the game on a 10-0 run, highlighted by a Luke Knapke banked-in three and a Jaelan Sanford buzzer-beating turnaround three to beat the shot clock with 16:42 left in the half.
• After Toledo took a 17-4 advantage on a Jaelan Sanford jumper just over three minutes later, the Bulls scored 17 of the game's next 26 points to cut the lead to 26-21 with just over six minutes remaining in the half.
• The Bulls' leading scorer CJ Massinburg picked up his third foul of the game with just over 4:30 to play in the half.
• Buffalo reduced its lead to 39-36 at halftime with an 11-4 run that was capped by a Montel McRae dunk.
• Marreon Jackson finished the half as the Rockets' leading scorer with 12 points.

Second Half

• A three-pointer by Sanford increased the Rockets lead to eight, 44-36, just over a minute into the second half.
• The Bulls eventually tied the game with 12:54 remaining on Dontay Caruthers' two free throws.
• Buffalo took its first lead, 59-56, on Davonta Jordan's trey with 10:11 remaining and expanded it to 64-58 on Nick Perkins' three.
• Baskets from Willie Jackson and Sanford cut UT's deficit to 64-62 but Perkins knocked down two more treys for a 70-62 cushion with 5:38 remaining.
• The closest Toledo could come down the stretch was five points on two occasions, the last with 3:09 to play following a pair of free throws from Marreon Jackson.
• Perkins finished the second half with 19 points and was 4-of-4 from behind the three-point arc.
• Sanford tallied 15 second-half points in the second half.

Inside the Numbers

• Toledo lost for the first time this season (17-1) when holding its opponent under a 45.0 FG%.
• The Rockets were outrebounded for just the sixth time this season and are 3-3 when that occurs.
• Jaelan Sanford now has 1,680 career points and moved past Steve Mix into seventh place on the Rockets' all-time scoring list.
• Sanford also registered his second career double-double in as many games.
• Marreon Jackson tied his season high with 20 points. He also scored 20 points in UT's first meeting vs. the Bulls.

Up Next

• The Rockets will travel to Eastern Michigan next Tuesday to take on the Eagles. Tip-off time is set for 7:00 p.m.

Highlights from UT's matchup against Buffalo.


Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk post-game.


Senior Jaelan Sanford post-game.