Rockets Rally from 16-Point Deficit to Defeat Louisiana, 87-78

Saturday, November 11

Toledo, Ohio

7:00 p.m.

University of Toledo

2-0,0-0MAC

Louisiana

1-1,0-0Sun Belt

Louisiana

Toledo

Junior Tyler Cochran led Toledo with 18 points off the bench in the Rockets' 87-78 win over Louisiana.

Photo by: Haley Boehm

Rockets Rally from 16-Point Deficit to Defeat Louisiana, 87-78

11/11/2023 10:24:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Final Stats (PDF)

Junior Tyler Cochran tops Toledo with 18 points off the bench

TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo men's basketball team rallied from a 16-point deficit with 12:41 remaining to post an 87-78 victory over Louisiana (1-1) in Savage Arena on Saturday night in the Mid-American Conference-Sun Belt Challenge. The victory improved the Rockets' record to 2-0 and gave the MAC a 7-5 advantage over the SBC this weekend.

"That was a great team win against a really good team," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "Louisiana is a very good program and is extremely well-coached. Our team has no panic in them, and we just found a way to win."

Junior Tyler Cochran topped the Rockets' offensively with 18 points off the bench. Junior Ra'Heim Moss and freshman Sonny Wilson each scored 16 points apiece to join Cochran in double figures.

"Tyler Cochran was huge for us in the second half," Kowalczyk said. "He impacted both ends of the floor. We forced 18 turnovers and only had nine. That was a big difference tonight."

Junior Themus Fulks paced the Ragin' Cajuns with a game-high 25 points and five assists.

Toledo shot over 50% from the field for a second-straight game with its 57.1 shooting mark. Louisiana also was efficient shooting the ball with a 54.1 FG%, but its 18 miscues led to a 24-13 Rocket advantage in points off turnovers.

Toledo will receive its first road test of the season when it travels to Dayton, Ohio to face Wright State (0-1) on Tuesday, Nov. 14. Tip-off time from the Nutter Center is set for 7:00 p.m. with streaming on ESPN+.

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST HALF

Louisiana took an 11-5 lead on Kobe Julian's three-pointer at the 17:16 mark.
The Rockets rallied to take a 21-19 lead when Sonny Wilson's triple and driving layup capped off a 7-0 spurt with 11:24 left in the half.
Louisiana then took a 45-32 lead by knocking down back-to-back triples just over a minute before halftime.
Toledo trailed at intermission by a 45-34 margin.
Louisiana shot a sizzling 19-of-30 (63.3%) from the field in the first half, including 7-of-12 (58.3%) from three-point range.
Toledo shot an even 50.0 percent (13-of-26) from the floor with Sonny Wilson leading the way with nine points.

SECOND HALF

UL moved out to a 60-44 lead on Blake Butler's putback at the 12:41 mark for its largest margin of the game.
Tyler Cochran fed Andre Lorentsson for a layup to cap a 6-0 run that cut UT's deficit to 60-50 and forced a Louisiana timeout at the 11:19 mark.
Cochran scored five straight points as part of a 7-0 spurt to reduce Louisiana's lead to 62-57 with 9:41 remaining.
The Rockets then reeled off nine straight points to knot the game at 70-70 with 4:24 left.
Toledo took the lead for good on Javan Simmons' layup with 1:39 remaining and closed out the contest with a 15-4 spurt.

ROCKET ROUNDUP

Toledo has won both of its meetings vs. Louisiana. The Rockets' first victory over the Ragin' Cajuns was in 2018.
The Rockets are 40-4 (.909) in Savage Arena since the start of the 2020-21 season. UT's last non-conference regular-season home loss was vs. Wright State on Dec. 21, 2019.
Tyler Cochran's 18 points were two points shy from his most as a Rocket. He scored 20 points vs. Western Michigan in Savage Arena last year.