TOLEDO, Ohio – Junior Dante Maddox Jr. scored a team-high 21 points and dished out a career-high six assists to help the Toledo men's basketball team continue its recent dominance of Ohio (13-12, 7-5 MAC) with an 85-83 victory on Friday night before a national television audience and 5,079 fans in Savage Arena.
 
Toledo improved to 16-9 overall and 10-2 in the Mid-American Conference with the victory and sits a half-game behind first-place Akron (19-5, 10-1 MAC) in the league standings. The Rockets will host the Zips on Tuesday, Feb. 20 in Savage Arena at 7:00 p.m.

"That was nothing short of a championship effort and a championship win," said Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk after the Rockets posted their 11^th victory in last 12 meetings against the Bobcats. "I'm proud of our guys. We started slow in the first half, especially on the defensive end. It was situational basketball at the end of the game and all the things we work on, preach, teach and emphasize came to fruition tonight."
 
Joining Maddox in double digits were junior Ra'Heim Moss (16 pts.), redshirt freshman Javan Simmons (13 pts.), junior Tyler Cochran (13 pts.) and freshman Sonny Wilson (12 pts.).
 
Junior AJ Clayton paced Ohio with 22 points and five three-point field goals.
 
Simmons also grabbed a season-high 16 rebounds to register his second-straight double-double and help UT dominate the glass by a 40-29 margin.
 
Toledo shot 48.5% from the field, 47.1% (8-of-17) from three-point range and 81.3% (13-of-16) from the free-throw line. Ohio possessed similar numbers with a 47.4 shooting mark, 48.0 three-point FG% (12-of-25) and 77.3 FT% (17-of-22).

The Rockets fell behind by as many as 13 points in the first half but trailed by only a 44-39 margin at halftime. Toledo then took a 66-60 lead with nine minutes remaining but was trailing 76-74 with 2:13 to play. Maddox then scored five straight points to give UT a lead that it would not relinquish.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST HALF

• All five Bobcats scored as Ohio took an early 15-4 lead by hitting six of its first nine shots.
• Ra'Heim Moss's layup capped off an 8-2 spurt that reduced the Rockets' deficit to 20-15 at the 10-minute mark.
• Ohio restored its double-digit cushion three minutes later when back-to-back triples led to a 30-17 advantage.
• Toledo responded after taking a timeout trailing 44-32 two minutes before intermission.
• Javan Simmons started a 7-0 spurt with a dunk, and Tyler Cochran scored the next five points to cut the Bobcats' margin at the half to 44-39.
• Ohio shot 57.1% in the first half and was a red-hot 9-of-14 behind the three-point arc.
• Toledo posted a 48.6 FG% and was 4-of-8 from downtown.

SECOND HALF

• Toledo started the second half strong and took its first lead of the half, 52-51, at the 15:34 mark following two Dante Maddox Jr. free throws after a technical foul was whistled against Ohio Head Coach Jeff Boals.
• Neither team led by more than three points for the next six minutes when triples from Maddox and Cochran keyed an 8-0 spurt that put UT in front 66-60.
• Ohio rallied and eventually took a 76-74 lead on a pair of free throws from Miles Brown with 2:13 to play.
• Maddox then tied the score with a step-back jumper and followed with his third trey of the night for a 79-76 advantage with 59 seconds remaining.
• Ohio cut Toledo's lead to a point on two different occasions in the final minute but could never tie the score or take the lead.