BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Junior JT Shumate erupted for a season-high 29 points and sophomore Ryan Rollins nearly registered a triple-double to lead Toledo to a convincing 91-78 victory over arch-rival Bowling Green on Saturday night in the Stroh Center. The victory moved the Rockets (13-4, 5-1 MAC) into a virtual first-place tie in the Mid-American Conference with Ohio (13-2, 4-0 MAC).
 
"It was a heckuva win in a rivalry game on the road against a talented Bowling Green team," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "I thought our energy and execution from start to finish was great. I thought we were really good defensively even though they got back in the game later in the first half by hitting some tough shots."
 
Shumate, who finished four points shy of his career high, hit 12-of-14 shots and was 4-of-4 from three-point range and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds for the Rockets. Rollins finished with 16 points, a career-best 10 assists and eight rebounds.
 
Junior Setric Millner Jr. also put in a strong performance for the Rockets, tallying 20 points and five boards. Millner scored 15 of his points in final 20 minutes, including eight during a 12-3 spurt that gave Toledo a double-digit lead early in the second half.
 
Toledo shot 54.7 percent from the field, 10-of-23 (43.5 percent) from three-point range and 11-of-11 from the free-throw line. It marked the second-straight game the Rockets were perfect after hitting all 11 shots at the charity stripe against Miami.
 
Bowling Green posted a 43.5 FG% and was 10-of-31 (32.3 percent) from behind the three-point arc. The Rockets limited the Falcons to a 1-of-13 clip from three-point range in the second half after the hosts knocked down 9-of-18 in the opening 20 minutes.
 
Toledo returns to action on Tuesday, Jan. 18 when it hosts Ball State (7-9, 2-3 MAC). Tip-off time is set for 7:00 p.m. with streaming on ESPN3.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
FIRST HALF

• Toledo came out on fire and hit eight of its first nine shots leading to a 17-6 lead and forcing the Falcons to take timeout just 4:14 into the contest.
• Ryan Rollins buried a triple to increase the Rockets' lead to 28-16 just over midway through the first half.
• Bowling Green rallied to even the score at 41-41 on Chandler Turner's triple 3:23 before intermission.
• Trey Diggs played a big part in the Falcons' comeback by hitting 7-of-8 three-point shots in the opening stanza.
• Ra'Heim Moss hit two free throws 39.2 seconds before the break to give the Rockets a 48-47 halftime lead.

SECOND HALF

• Setric Millner Jr. helped Toledo quickly gain back a double-digit cushion by hitting back-to-back triples and a fadeaway jumper as part of a 12-3 spurt to open the second half.
• Shumate buried a trey and Millner followed with a ferocious slam to increase the Rockets' lead to 69-54 at the 12:47 mark.
• Back-to-back triples from Millner and Shumate gave Toledo its largest advantage, 89-68, with 3:15 left to put the exclamation point on the victory.

Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk post-game.


Junior JT Shumate post-game.


Sophomore Ryan Rollins post-game.