CLEVELAND, Ohio –Junior guard RayJ Dennis scored 28 points to lead No. 1 seed Toledo to an 82-75 victory over No. 5 seed Ohio in the semifinals of the Mid-American Conference Tournament at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland on Friday.
 
        Toledo (27-6) will now face the winner of the Kent State-Akron game in the MAC Championship Game Saturday night (7:30 p.m. ESPN2). The Rockets, winners of 17 straight games, will be playing in the league title game for the first time since 2018. UT's 17-game winning streak is tied for the longest in the nation with Oral Roberts.
 
        "It was just a resilient win," said Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk. "We just kind of grinded it out. We had a really good start. I have a lot of respect for Ohio because they can really score. We knew we had to have some runs. We just could never put them away. We'd get up eight and we couldn't get it to 15."
 
        "We've got a resilient group," added Dennis. "It starts with (Coach) K and trickles down through the rest of the program. It's contagious."
 
        Dennis, the MAC Player of the Year, connected on 11-of-20 shots from the field, was 5-of-6 from the free throw line and grabbed six rebounds. Time and time again he came through with big baskets whenever the Rockets needed it. He was joined in double figures by junior guard Dante Maddox Jr., who scored 20 points on 5-of-9 shooting.
 
        Toledo shot 51.8% from the floor, its eighth-straight game over 50 percent, while holding the Bobcats to just 38.6%. Ohio out-rebounded the Rockets, 43-29, but could only convert its 20 offensive rebounds into 14 second-chance points.
 
        "I'm really proud of our defense," said Kowalczyk. "I thought we really guarded them."
 
        "We know they are a really good offensive team," said Dennis. "Our plan was to get them off the three-point line. They hit some tough threes but ultimately we made them shoot some tough ones, some shots they didn't want to, and get big stops down the stretch."
 
        Toledo trailed in the early going but used a 17-4 run to take a 37-31 lead at halftime. Ohio (19-14) pulled to within one point, 42-41, early in the second half but could never catch the Rockets. Toledo, which built the lead to as much as 11 points, sealed the win by connecting on 17-of-23 free throws in the second half after not attempting any in the first 20 minutes.
 
        "Right now we're just living in the moment," said Maddox Jr. "We're happy with this win, but we've got to keep going. Tomorrow we're 40 minutes away. We know that we're more than capable. It's just about executing the plan at this point."
         
First Half

•  Ohio jumped out to an early 8-4 lead but a RayJ Dennis layup and a three-pointer by Dante Maddox gave Toledo a 9-8 advantage at the first media timeout.
•  Dennis hit a short jumper and a three-pointer to extend Toledo's lead to 16-12 at the 11:04 mark.
•  Moments later, Maddox knocked down his second triple to cap a 17-4 Toledo run and increase its lead to 21-12 and force an Ohio timeout with 9:35 left in the half.
•  Ohio came back with a 10-2 spurt punctuated by a three-pointer by AJ Brown to cut Toledo's lead to 27-25 with 4:09 left.
•  JT Shumate tipped in a Dennis miss at the horn to help Toledo complete a 10-6 run and give the Rockets a 37-31 halftime lead.
•  Dennis and Maddox Jr. had 13 points each in the first 20 minutes.
•  Toledo shot 16-of-31 (51.6%) from the floor in the first half and held Ohio to 12-of-34 (35.3%).

Second Half

•  Ohio opened the half with three triples in an 11-5 run to cut Toledo's lead to 42-41 at the first media timeout.
• Toledo answered with a 10-3 run, capped by an EJ Farmer three-point play, to increase its lead to 52-44 with 11:59 left.
•  The Rockets increased the lead to 10 points until Ohio's Jaylin Hunter knocked down a three-pointer at the 7:43 mark to trim the margin to 58-53.
•  Dennis made back-to-back layups to push the lead to 64-53 and force another Ohio timeout with 5:33 remaining.
•  The Bobcats fought back with a 9-5 run to trim the margin to 69-62 with 2:45 left.
•  Toledo made nine free throws in the final 1:15 to clinch the victory.