YPSILANTI, Mich. – The Toledo men's basketball team rallied from a seven-point deficit with less than four minutes to play to pull out a 91-87 road victory over Eastern Michigan on Tuesday night. The victory kept the Rockets (15-8, 9-2 MAC) a game behind first-place Akron (18-5, 10-1 MAC) in the Mid-American Conference standings.

"I thought how we ended the game was great," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "We didn't play very well at the start and weren't at our best defensively. We came back though and got the stops we needed to in the final four minutes to get the win."

Juniors Ra'Heim Moss and Tyler Cochran each scored 20 points to pace UT offensively. Redshirt freshman Javan Simmons added 16 points and a team-high eight rebounds, while junior Andre Lorentsson came off the bench to score 13 points and grab five boards. Junior Dante Maddox Jr. also scored 11 points for the Rockets.

"We don't win this game without Dre," Kowalczyk said. "He made some big plays, especially in the second half. He's not just a three-point shooter and is athletic. He's starting to believe and play with confidence and toughness."

Junior Tyson Acuff led Eastern Michigan with 24 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

Toledo shot 54.2% from the field and held a decided advantage at the free-throw line. The Rockets knocked down 22-of-29 attempts at the charity stripe, compared to the Eagles' 3-of-9 totals.

Toledo returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 10 when it travels to Boone, N.C. to face App State in its second contest of this year's MAC-Sun Belt Challenge.

Tip-off time vs. the Mountaineers is set for 1:00 p.m. with streaming on ESPN+.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Toledo has won its last seven games vs. EMU, including four in a row in Ypsilanti.
• The Rockets committed just six turnovers, one more than their season low.
• UT held a 16-6 advantage in points off turnovers and forced the Eagles into 13 miscues.
• Javan Simmons tied his season high with eight rebounds.
• Ra'Heim Moss registered his sixth 20-point outing of the season, with Tyler Cochran notching his third.

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST HALF

• EMU took an early 8-1 lead with Orlando Lovejoy accounting for all the Eagles' scoring.
• Toledo responded with an 11-0 burst capped off by a Dante Maddox Jr. slam that put UT in front 19-12 at the 11:55 mark.
• The Rockets held a nine-point advantage, 40-31, with 1:30 left, but the Eagles ended the half with a 6-2 spurt to cut UT's lead to 42-37.
• All nine Rockets scored in the first half with Tyler Cochran's nine points leading the way.
• Toledo shot 51.5% from the field, slightly better than the Eagles' 50.0 shooting mark.

SECOND HALF

• Toledo maintained its lead until Tyson Acuff's layup put EMU in front, 57-55, with 10:38 remaining.
• Lovejoy's steal and ensuing layup forced the Rockets to take a timeout trailing 65-59 just over a minute later.
• Toledo tied the game at 74-74 on Cochran's three-pointer with five minutes to play.
• EMU's Yusef Jihad then scored seven straight points to put Toledo down 81-74 at the 3:40 mark.
• The Rockets quickly crept to within a point, 81-80, with 2:37 left on two free throws from Ra'Heim Moss followed by layups from Moss and Javan Simmons
• UT took the lead for good, 84-83, on a Simmons' slam with 46 seconds remaining.
• The Rockets closed out the victory by hitting seven of their final eight free throws.