MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – Junior Ra'Heim Moss scored a team-high 21 points, but the Toledo men's basketball team's rally fell short on Saturday afternoon in a 91-81 defeat at Big 12 foe West Virginia (5-7).

"We played tremendous except for the first eight minutes of the game," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "Several of our turnovers at the start were very costly because they were pick-sixes and ended up directly into points. You can't spot a team like West Virginia that many points on the road because the crowd gets involved and their defensive intensity picks up."

The Rockets (6-6) trailed by 18 points just under seven minutes into the game before cutting their deficit to two with 13 minutes remaining. UT had several chances to tie the score down the stretch until the Mountaineers took a 10-point lead, 86-76, with 1:32 remaining.

Joining Moss in double digits were junior Dante Maddox Jr. (14 pts.), redshirt freshman Javan Simmons (14 pts.), junior Tyler Cochran (12 pts.) and freshman Bryce Ford (10 pts.).

RaeQuan Battle topped the Mountaineers with a game-high 29 points.

Simmons and Cochran each grabbed a team-high six boards to help the Rockets keep the rebounding battle nearly even as WVU held a slight 35-34 advantage.

The Mountaineers shot 51.7% from the field, slightly better than UT's 46.4 shooting mark. Both teams knocked down seven three-point field goals, with Maddox, freshman Bryce Ford and junior Andre Lorentsson burying two apiece.

Toledo will now take a few days off for the holiday and return to action for its Mid-American Conference opener on the road vs. Ohio on Tuesday, Jan. 2. Tipoff time is set for 7:00 p.m. on ESPNU.

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST HALF

• West Virginia hit 10 of its first 11 shots to take a 25-7 lead less than seven minutes into the game.
• Dante Maddox Jr.'s three-pointer brought the Rockets within 28-16 at the eight-minute mark.
• Toledo closed within 10 points on three different occasions the remainder of the half before heading to the locker room trailing by a 45-33 margin.
• Toledo shot 44.8% and was 2-of-11 from three-point range in the opening 20 minutes, while WVU connected on 48.5% field goals and hit 5-of-14 three-point shots.
• Maddox topped the Rockets with nine points, and RaeQuan Battle poured in 22 points for WVU.

SECOND HALF

• Bryce Ford's three-pointer capped off an 8-2 spurt that reduced WVU's lead to 52-47 at the 15:35 mark.
• Maddox then drilled another triple to bring UT within 56-54 just over two minutes later.
• After Toledo couldn't convert on three opportunities to tie the score over the next three minutes, WVU took a 65-58 lead with 9:52 left on Ofri Naveh's layup.
• The Rockets continued to rally and Andre Lorentsson's back-to-back triples cut WVU's lead to 66-64 with eight minutes to play.
• Tyler Cochran's layup then made it a 72-68 contest with 6:17 left but that was as close as the Rockets could come down the stretch.