OXFORD, Ohio – The Toledo men's basketball team moved into a first-place tie in the Mid-American Conference standings on Tuesday night with a dominating wire-to-wire 97-63 triumph over Miami (15-15, 9-8 MAC) in Millett Hall.
UT's victory combined with Akron's 61-60 home loss to Eastern Michigan leaves the Rockets (19-11) and Zips (21-9) with identical 13-4 league marks. Toledo will now have an opportunity to win its fourth-straight Mid-American Conference title when it hosts Kent State on Friday at 8:00 p.m.
"We were focused from the start tonight and never let up," Head Coach
Tod Kowalczyk said. "It was great to see everyone contribute against a team that's been playing very well. Now we're playing for a championship and No. 1 seed in our final home game."
All 10 Rockets found the scoring column with junior
Tyler Cochran setting the pace with a game-high 22 points. Joining Cochran in double digits were juniors Andre Lorentsson (16 pts.),
Dante Maddox Jr. (13 pts.) and
Ra'Heim Moss (10 pts.).
Maddox also led the way with nine rebounds and five assists, while redshirt freshman
Javan Simmons contributed eight points, five rebounds and three blocked shots.
Toledo finished the night with a 60.4 FG%, including a red-hot 52.6 mark (10-of-19) from three-point range. The Rockets also limited the RedHawks to a 31.8 FG%.
Toledo scored the game's first 11 points and never looked back, cruising to a 54-24 halftime advantage. The Rockets' cushion didn't fall below 24 points in the final 20 minutes.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Toledo registered its 13th conference victory tonight, marking the sixth time in seven seasons it has achieved that feat.
- The Rockets are 61-13 (.824) in league play since the start of the 2020-21 season. The Rockets are 33-4 (.892) in MAC home games and 28-9 (.757) in MAC road games.
- Toledo was 6-3 in MAC road games this year after finishing 8-1 in league road games last season. UT was 8-2 in MAC road games in 2021-22 after posting a 6-3 mark in MAC contests away from home in 2020-21.
HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST HALF
- Toledo took an 11-0 lead by hitting four of its first five shots, including a pair of triples from Tyler Cochran, to force Miami to take an early timeout.
- After the RedHawks scored their first basket at the 16:29 mark, the Rockets went on another 11-0 run for a 22-2 advantage with 13:15 left in the half.
- UT's margin remained 18 points or higher for the next six minutes when Javan Simmons' layup capped off a 14-0 burst for a 44-12 lead just over four minutes before halftime.
- Dante Maddox Jr. led the Rockets in the first half with 11 points, with Tyler Cochran and Andre Lorentsson each scoring 10 points.
- Toledo shot 61.5% from the field in the opening 20 minutes.
SECOND HALF
- Miami reduced its deficit to 24 points, just two minutes into the second half, but the Rockets held the RedHawlks scoreless for nearly six minutes to restore their lead back to 63-32.
- Andre Lorentsson' three-pointer with 1:01 remaining gave Toledo a 95-57 advantage for its largest lead of the night.
