Champions Again!!! Toledo Captures Fourth Straight Outright MAC Title

Friday, March 8

Toledo, Ohio

8:00 p.m.

University of Toledo

20-11,14-4MAC

Kent State

15-16,8-10MAC

Kent St.

Toledo

Toledo won its fourth straight outright Mid-American Conference title with its 86-71 win over Kent State.

Photo by: The University of Toledo

Champions Again!!! Toledo Captures Fourth Straight Outright MAC Title

3/8/2024 11:31:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Final Stats (PDF)

Rockets post 86-71 win over Kent State to earn No. 1 seed in next week's MAC Tournament

TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo men's basketball team continued its historical run Friday night by capturing its fourth consecutive outright Mid-American Conference title with an 86-71 victory over Kent State before 6,520 fans in Savage Arena. The Rockets (20-11, 14-4 MAC) are just the second program ever to win four straight league titles, joining the University of Cincinnati which won four straight (1948-51) in the infancy of the conference.

Toledo entered the day tied for first place with Akron (21-10, 13-15). However, the Zips dropped a 90-84 decision at Western Michigan earlier in the evening to give UT the opportunity take sole possession of another crown.

"I'm proud of this team and how we weathered a lot of storms and won a fourth straight outright championship," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "Celebrations like this never get old. This is a special group."

The Rockets will be the No. 1 seed in next week's MAC Tournament and will meet the No. 8 Golden Flashes (15-16, 8-10 MAC) again in a quarterfinal match-up on Thursday, March 14 at 11:00 a.m. in Cleveland's Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. For more information or to purchase MAC Tournament tickets, please visit utrockets.com/mactournament.

Juniors Ra'Heim Moss and Dante Maddox Jr. led Toledo offensively with 21 and 18 points, respectively. The duo was joined in double figures by junior Andre Lorentsson (13 pts.) and redshirt freshman Javan Simmons (10 pts.).

Simmons also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds to help the Rockets to a 35-34 advantage on the glass.

Toledo was efficient offensively with a 51.8 FG%, a 41.7 three-point FG% (10-of-24) and an 81.8 FT%. The Rockets also collected 17 assists with Moss dishing out a team-high seven.

UT limited Kent State to a 42.4 shooting mark and a 34.8% clip from three-point range.

Toledo never trailed in the contest and held a 36-26 halftime advantage. The Rockets' largest lead in the contest was 17 points.

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST HALF

Toledo jumped out to a 15-7 lead in the opening seven minutes with Ra'Heim Moss accounting for seven points.
Kent State countered with a 9-2 run that cut the Rockets' lead to 17-16 with 9:45 left in the half.
Back-to-back layups by Tyler Cochran and an and-one from Moss keyed a 7-1 run that increased Toledo's lead to 28-20.
Back-to-back three-pointers by Marko Maletic and Andre Lorentsson upped the lead to 36-24 with a minute left.
Toledo took a 36-26 lead into the locker room after shooting 13-of-28 (46.4%) from the floor and holding KSU to just 9-of-28 shooting (32.1%).
Moss led all scorers with 12 points and added four assists in the opening 20 minutes.

SECOND HALF

KSU opened the half with a 9-3 run capped by a three-pointer off an offensive rebound by Mike Bekelja to trim the Rocket advantage to 39-35.
Toledo answered with a 7-0 run with Dante Maddox hitting a layup and a three-pointer that made it a 46-35 game and forced KSU to call timeout with 17:30 left.
Toledo's lead grew to 13 points on a Moss triple and then fluctuated between eight and 12 points over the next nine minutes.
The Rockets' lead grew to 72-57 when Lorentsson hit a three-pointer and Javan Simmons converted one free throw after being fouled on the play with 7:54 left.
Kent State was never able to close to within double digits for the remainder of the game.