TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo men's basketball team picked up a hard-fought 90-83 win over Detroit Mercy on Saturday afternoon in Savage Arena to improve to 2-2 on the season.

The Rockets showcased a balanced offensive attack with five players scoring in double figures. Freshman Leroy Blyden Jr. led the way with 20 points and seven assists, while junior Sonny Wilson added 18 points, six rebounds and five assists. Senior Sean Craig and Austin Parks were equally impressive, each contributing 17 points with Parks going a perfect 7-for-7 from the field. Senior Kyler Vanderjagt also scored 11 points and grabbed five boards.

Detroit Mercy (1-3) was paced by Orlando Lovejoy's 18 points and TJ Nadeau's 15 points.

Toledo shot an efficient 52.5% from the floor and converted 21-of-30 free throws to help them withstand a late surge from the Titans.

The Rockets held a slim 41-37 lead at halftime and used a 6-0 spurt to take a 75-68 advantage with 5:04 to play. UT's lead didn't dip below five points the rest of the way.

QUOTING COACH KOWALCZYK:
"We have a slogan within our program and that's to win any way. That's what today's game was. I love that we had 20 assists. That was huge because that's unselfish basketball. But we had 14 turnovers and we have to clean that up. We have a high-character team that cares about each other. That helped us play through the adversity that we faced in the second half when Detroit made run at us."
 
ROCKET LEADERS

• Leroy Blyden Jr.: 20 pts., 7 asst., 2 stls.
• Sonny Wilson: 18 pts., 6 reb., 5 asst.
• Austin Parks: 17 pts., 7 reb., 3 asst., 7-7 FG
• Sean Craig: 17 pts., 6 reb., 6-6 FT

TEAM STATS
Toledo: 52.5 FG%, 28.0 3PTFG% (7-of-25), 70.0 FT% (21-of-30), 39 Reb., 20 Asst., 14 TO
Detroit Mercy: 45.1 FG%, 32.0 3PTFG% (8-of-25), 64.7 FT% (11-of-17), 37 Reb., 13 Asst., 12 TO

ROCKET ROUNDUP

• Toledo has won its last eight meetings vs. Detroit Mercy with its last defeat coming in 2015.
• Leroy Blyden Jr.'s 20 points marked the second 20-point outing of the season by a Rocket.
• Austin Parks scored a career-high 17 points and is 13-of-14 from the field in his last two contests. He has a 70.4 FG% this season.
• Sonny Wilson's 18-point outing extended his streak of scoring in double figures to 21 games dating back to last season.
• Five Rockets are now scoring in double digits this season – Sonny Wilson (16.5), Sean Craig (15.0), Leroy Blyden Jr. (14.0), Kyler Vanderjagt (13.3) and Austin Parks (11.3).

UP NEXT
Toledo will look to continue its winning ways when it hosts Youngstown State on Wednesday, Nov. 19 at 7:00 p.m. at Savage Arena. Streaming will be on ESPN+.