TOLEDO, Ohio – Juniors Ra'Heim Moss and Dante Maddox Jr. combined for 45 points to lead the Toledo men's basketball team to a 77-72 victory over Ball State (8-8, 0-4 MAC) on Saturday night in Savage Arena. The victory was the Rockets' 19^th straight regular-season Mid-American Conference win and kept the Rockets (10-6, 4-0 MAC) in a three-way tie for first place with Akron and Western Michigan in the league standings.
 
"It was a gutsy win for us tonight," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "We played with great effort and great efficiency with our 14 offensive rebounds and only five turnovers. Ball State is a talented team, and I think they'll win start winning some games."

Moss topped the Rockets with a career-high 24 points, while Maddox added 21 to go along with a team-high seven rebounds, five assists and two steals. Redshirt freshman Javan Simmons also was in double figures with 12 points.
 
Junior Jalin Anderson paced the Cardinals with 25 points and five assists.
 
Toledo shot 44.3% from the field and 38.9% (7-of-18) from three-point range. Ball State converted at a 50.9% clip but committed 10 turnovers, five more than UT's season-low total of five miscues.
 
The Rockets also owned a 34-28 advantage in the rebounding department and dominated the glass in the second half by a 21-12 margin.
 
Toledo trailed 57-51 with 11:00 remaining but went on a 15-2 run over the next six minutes to take a seven-point lead.  The Cardinals closed to within 73-70 with 1:06 to play, but Maddox and Simmons each sank a pair of free throws in the final minute to secure the victory.
 
The Rockets return to action on Tuesday, Jan. 16 with a home game vs. Buffalo (2-14, 1-3 MAC). The contest will tip off at 7:00 p.m. with streaming on ESPN+.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Toledo is 52-9 (.852) in MAC play in the last three-plus seasons.
• Toledo has not lost a regular-season MAC game since Jan. 10, 2023, a string of 19 straight wins.
• The Rockets' four-game winning streak is their longest of the season.
• Toledo has won seven of its last 11 meetings vs. Ball State.
• Toledo has held a rebounding advantage in three consecutive games.
• Dante Maddox Jr. has scored in double figures in career-high 10 straight games.

HOW IT HAPPENED
 
FIRST HALF

• Both teams were scoreless in the opening 2:40 before Ball State took a 9-5 lead less than five minutes into the game.
• Sonny Wilson's layup put the Rockets in front, 12-11, at the 13:34 mark.
• Neither team led by more than three points for the next six minutes when Dante Maddox Jr.'s three-pointer provided UT a 28-24 advantage.
• The Rockets ended the half with a 10-3 spurt capped off by Tyler Cochran's three-pointer at the buzzer for a 40-33 cushion at intermission.
• Ra'Heim Moss led Toledo in the first half with 15 points.
• Toledo shot 45.5% with just one turnover in the opening 20 minutes, while the Cardinals registered a 54.2 shooting mark.

SECOND HALF

• The Cardinals came out hot in the second half, with a 10-2 run to take a 43-42 lead less than four minutes after the break.
• BSU increased its margin to 53-47 on Davion Bailey's three-pointer with 12:57 remaining.
• Maddox's layup and three-pointer capped off a 15-2 spurt that put the Rockets ahead to stay, 66-59, with 6:03 to play.
• Javan Simmons and Cochran both hit two big free throws to help UT maintain control down the stretch after the Cardinals had reduced their deficit to four.