CLEVELAND, Ohio – Junior forward Setric Millner scored 17 of his 22 points in the second half as Toledo rallied to pull out a 72-71 victory over Central Michigan in quarterfinal action of the Mid-American Conference Men's Basketball Tournament at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland on Thursday. 
 
    "I'm proud of our team and how we didn't panic," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "Central Michigan is a talented team and came up just short against Akron, Kent State and us in the last three weeks. I thought we moved the ball well and took good shots. They just weren't falling in the first half and in the second half they did."

        The highest scoring team in the MAC this season, the Rockets (26-6) won this game with a big defensive play by junior forward JT Shumate, who forced a critical turnover on an inbounds play with 10.1 seconds remaining and the Rockets holding a one-point lead.

     "That was JT making a basketball play," said Kowlaczyk. "It's a play that an all-league player makes. Our goal was just to slow them up, not to go for the steal, but he saw an opportunity and went for it. It was a big-time play."

     Toledo then took the ball out of bounds, and sophomore guard Ryan Rollins was fouled. He missed the front end of a one-and-one, and CMU grabbed the rebound and moved the ball up the floor for the final shot. Harrison Henderson was forced into a difficult three-point attempt that hit the backboard. Junior guard RayJ Dennis secured the rebound to seal the victory.
  
        Trailing 32-20 at the break, the Rockets slowly pulled away from the Chippewas in the second half, pushing the lead to seven points, 68-61, with 3:33 left to play. But CMU outscored the Rockets 10-4 in the final two-plus minutes, taking a 71-70 lead on a Harrison dunk with 20 seconds left. Toledo re-took the lead, 72-71, on a driving layup by Dennis with 10 seconds to play, and the Rockets' defense did the rest. 
 
        Millner made 8-of-10 shots in the second half, and the Rockets hit 16-of-27 (59.3%) as a team in the final 20 minutes. Millner was joined in double figures by Rollins (14), Dennis (13) and Shumate (12). Central Michigan was led by Henderson's 21 points.
 
        Toledo now advances to the semifinals against No. 4 seed Akron. Tipoff time for the contest is set for 5:00 p.m. on the CBS Sports Network.

       "We're playing tomorrow," said Kowalczyk. "You can't win them all until you win the first."
             
FIRST HALF 

•  Toledo jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead following a three-point play by Ryan Rollins.
•  CMU took the lead, 13-12, on a three-pointer by Brian Taylor that finished an 11-5 Chippewa run.
•  A three-pointer by Setric Millner gave Toledo a 20-17 lead with 10:53 left but CMU countered with a 9-2 run to take a 26-22 lead with 5:45 left.
•  RayJ Dennis hit a pair of driving shots and Ryan Rollins knocked down a three-pointer to put Toledo back in the lead, 29-26.
•  Toledo missed its final seven shots of the half and committed three turnovers as CMU took a 32-30 lead into the locker room.

SECOND HALF 

•  The teams traded baskets and were tied 41-41 going into the first media timeout at 15:22.
•  Toledo took a 49-45 lead on a short jumper by Rollins at the 12:12 mark.
•  After CMU closed the gap to 54-52, Toledo countered with a jumper by Millner and a layup from Dennis to push the lead out to 58-52 with 7:19 left.
•  A Millner three-pointer increased the led to 64-57 with 5:57 left.
•  CMU took the lead, 71-70, with 20 seconds left on a dunk by Harrison Henderson.
•  RayJ Dennis drove the lane and hit a driving shot with 10.1 seconds left. Toledo Coach Tod Kowalczyk called timeout, forcing CMU to inbound the ball under its own basket.
•  JT Shumate's pressure forced a turnover on the inbounds, giving the ball to Toledo.
•  Rollins was fouled on ensuing inbounds but missed the front end of a one-and-one.
•  Henderson grabbed the rebound for CMU, but then took a difficult three-pointer that barely hit the backboard. Dennis grabbed the rebound as time ran out.

BY THE NUMBERS 

• Toledo's 26 wins are the second most in program history, one behind the 2013-14 squad's 27 victories.
• Toledo is now 5-1 vs. Central Michigan in the MAC Tournament.
• The Rockets trailed by two points at halftime in each of their last two games vs. CMU but came back to win.
• Setric Millner Jr. continued his hot stretch and is averaging 21.4 ppg with a 64.6 FG% (42-of-65) and 53.6 three-point FG% (15-of-28) in his last five games.
• RayJ Dennis tallied a season-high three steals.

Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk, junior Setric Millner Jr., sophomore Ryan Rollins post-game.