TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo men's basketball team sent out seniors Chris Darrington, Nate Navigato and Jaelan Sanford with a 64-58 victory over Eastern Michigan on Friday night to earn the No. 2 seed in the 2019 Mid-American Conference Tournament. The victory gave the Rockets their 25^th victory of the season, the second most in program history and two shy of the school record set by the 2013-14 squad.
 
Toledo (25-6, 13-5 MAC) won the MAC's West Division by three games over Central Michigan and will open play in next week's MAC Tournament on Thursday, March 14 against the winner of No. 7 Northern Illinois and No. 10 Ohio. The Huskies will host the Bobcats in DeKalb, Ill. in a first-round matchup on Monday, March 11.
 
The Rockets utilized a balanced attack to defeat the Eagles with Sanford and sophomore Spencer Littleson leading the way with 14 points apiece. Sophomore Marreon Jackson tallied 13 points, while Navigato added 10.
 
Seniors Paul Jackson and Elijah Minnie paced Eastern Michigan (15-16, 9-9 MAC) with 17 and 15 points, respectively.
 
The key to the Rockets' victory was their perimeter shooting. After opening the contest by missing its first seven three-point attempts, Toledo finished with a 46.4 three-point FG% (13-of-28) against the Eagles' 2-3 zone defense. EMU knocked down only 2-of-14 attempts from behind the arc.
 
Both teams posted similar shooting marks from the field and the free-throw line. UT shot 42.2 percent from the field and hit 13-of-16 free throws, while EMU notched a 42.3 FG% and converted 12-of-16 free throws.

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST HALF

• Toledo only scored two points in the game's first 11-plus minutes until a Chris Darrington trey and Willie Jackson layup reduced EMU's lead to 8-7.
• Marreon Jackson's two free throws gave the Rockets their first lead, 12-10, with 6:34 remaining in the first half.
• Spencer Littleson hit back-to-back treys and Marreon Jackson added another to give Toledo a 21-14 lead just over four minutes before the half.
• Nate Navigato and Marreon Jackson hit two more threes to close out the half and give the Rockets a 31-20 lead to take to the locker room.

SECOND HALF

• The Rockets maintained a comfortable lead until an 11-0 spurt brought EMU to within a point, 48-47, with 6:13 remaining.
• The teams then traded three-point field goals before Littleson buried a trey and Sanford sank a floater along the baseline to put Toledo up, 56-50, with 3:11 remaining.
• Littleson drilled another three-pointer to extend the Rockets' cushion to 59-51, with 1:47 left.
• The closest EMU came down the stretch was six points as UT knocked down five of six free throws in the final minute.

 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Toledo's 25 regular-season victories rank second in school history behind the Rockets' 26-5 mark in 2013-14.
• Spencer Littleson tied his career high with 14 points. He has shot 61.1 percent (11-of-18) from behind the three-point arc in his last four games.
• Four Rockets scored in double digits for the 20^th time this season.
• The Rockets have shot 40 percent or better from three-point range in four straight games and are 44-of-99 (.444) from three-point range in their last four games.

Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk Post-game.


Rocket Sophomore, Spencer Littleson, Post-game.