HENDERSON, Nev. – The Toledo men's basketball team fought right to the end on Friday but ended up on the short end of a 76-74 decision to Indiana State (5-1) in its final game of this week's Ball Dawgs Classic. The Rockets (3-3) suffered single-digit setbacks to New Mexico (92-84) and UC-Irvine (77-71) in their previous two games in the tournament.

"We played really well and battled today," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "I thought we outplayed them after falling behind in the first four minutes, and a questionable call made a big difference in the final minutes. We grew a lot and learned a lot about ourselves during this tournament. I'm proud of my guys and thought they deserved to win the game."

Redshirt freshman Javan Simmons topped a balanced Rocket attack with 14 points. He was joined in double figures by junior Tyler Cochran (12 pts.), junior Ra'Heim Moss (12 pts.) and freshman Sam Lewis (11 pts.).

Isaiah Swope led Indiana State with 23 points, and Jayson Kent registered a double-double (17 pts.-11 reb.) for the Sycamores.

Toledo held a 36-30 rebounding advantage with Cochran leading the way with seven boards. Junior Ben Wight grabbed a season-high six rebounds.

The Rockets shot 50.0% from the field, slightly better than the Sycamores' mark of 48.1%. ISU held the upper hand in two other areas though by hitting nine three-pointers and converting 15-of-19 free-throw attempts, compared to the Rockets' four triples and 8-of-14 performance from the line.

Toledo will look to bounce back from its three close defeats when it hosts George Mason on Saturday, Dec. 2. Tip-off time in Savage Arena is set for 7:00 p.m. with streaming on ESPN+.

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST HALF

• Indiana State scored the game's first nine points.
• UT quickly responded with a 9-2 spurt that Ra'Heim Moss capped off with a layup for an 11-9 deficit at the 13:39 mark.
• The Sycamores stretched their lead back to seven, but a pair of baskets from Javan Simmons and a Dante Maddox Jr. three-pointer brought the Rockets within 23-20 with 9:11 to play in the first half.
• ISU answered with another scoring spurt to take its largest lead of the game, 30-20, less than two minutes later.
• Toledo battled back though with a 9-2 spurt that sent the teams into halftime tied at 40-apiece.
• Moss and Simmons led UT in the first half with eight points each.

SECOND HALF

• Sam Lewis' jumper provided Toledo with its first lead, 50-48, with 14:55 to play.
• The lead then exchanged hands four times over the next six minutes until a 10-1 spurt gave the Rockets' their largest advantage, 65-60, with 6:23 remaining. Tyler Cochran provided UT with its final four points during the pivotal stretch.
• The Rockets maintained that lead until Isaiah Swope's three-pointer gave ISU a 69-67 lead with 3:07 to play.
• Simmons answered with a layup on the Rockets' next possession to knot the score at 69-69.
• The Sycamores regained the lead, 71-69, with a pair of free throws at the 1:53 mark, but the Rockets were called for a travel and missed the front end of a one-and-one on their next two possessions.
• Swope hit another triple to make it a two-possession game with 38 seconds remaining.
• Cochran's layup cut ISU's lead to 74-71 seven seconds later.
• Jayson Kent sank two free throws to again put the Rockets down five with 26.5 seconds to play.
• Dante Maddox Jr. then missed a three-pointer, but Swope missed two free throws with 14.5 seconds left to keep UT's hopes alive.
• Toledo missed two three-point attempts, however, before Sonny Wilson connected on a three with one second left.