TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo men's basketball team dominated from start to finish on Tuesday night to cruise to an 88-63 victory over Western Michigan (8-13, 5-4 MAC). The victory kept the Rockets (14-7, 8-1 MAC) tied for the top spot in the Mid-American Conference with Akron (16-5, 8-1 MAC) heading into Friday night's matchup vs. the Zips in Rhodes Arena.
 
"I think we're playing really well right now," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "We still have some things to clean up like our turnovers. I think we're improving each game and that's what you want to be doing this time of year."

Redshirt freshman Javan Simmons topped Toledo offensively with 19 points, one shy of his season high. He also tied for the team lead with six rebounds and was 8-of-11 from the field.

Joining Simmons in double figures was junior Ra'Heim Moss (15 pts.), junior Tyler Cochran (12 pts.) and freshman Sonny Wilson (11 pts.).

That foursome combined to shoot 80.0% (24-of-30) from the field to help UT post a season-high 63.5 shooting mark. WMU shot 45.6% from the field but was limited to a 37.9 FG% in the opening 20 minutes when the Rockets surged to a 48-27 advantage.
 
Senior Titus Wright paced five Broncos in double figures with 12 points.
 
In addition to its red-hot shooting, Toledo held a 31-24 rebounding advantage and outscored the Broncos in the paint by a whopping 52-34 margin.
 
The Rockets will now play their next three games on the road beginning with Friday's matchup vs. the Zips that will be televised nationally on ESPN2 at 9:00 p.m.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Toledo has won its last 13 meetings vs. Western Michigan, including victories of 25 points or more in each of its last five matchups.
• Freshman Sam Lewis tallied nine points and grabbed a season-high four steals.
• The Rockets have posted an 8-1 start to league play in three of the last four seasons.

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST HALF

• The Rockets soared out to a 20-6 lead, capping a 13-0 run with a Dante Maddox three-pointer at the 14:33 mark.
• Javan Simmons scored the final two buckets in a 15-2 Toledo run that extended the advantage to 35-11 with 8:54 left.
• WMU countered with a 12-2 run that was capped off by an Owen Lobsinger three-pointer which cut Toledo's cushion to 37-23.
• Toledo closed out the half on an 11-4 spurt for a 48-27 halftime lead.
• The Rockets shot a sizzling 19-of-27 (70.4%) from the floor in the first half, including 4-of 7 from long range.
• Toledo was led by Javan Simmons who had 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting and Ra'Heim Moss who added 11.

SECOND HALF

• Toledo came out in the second half with an 8-2 run culminated by a Moss layup for a 56-31 advantage with 17:11 remaining.
• Western Michigan answered by scoring eight unanswered points close within 56-39 with 14:39 left.
• The Rockets outscored WMU 23-10 to cushion their lead to 82-49, capping an 11-0 run with a Sonny Wilson jumper with 5:28 to play.
• A Sam Lewis dunk increased the Rocket lead to 86-55 at the two-minute mark.