Rockets Roll to Fourth-Straight Victory with 87-74 Win Over Buffalo

Tuesday, February 4

Toledo, Ohio

7:00 p.m.

University of Toledo

14-8,8-2MAC

Buffalo

7-15,2-8MAC

Buffalo

Toledo

Sophomore Javan Simmons tallied 18 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in Toledo's 87-74 win over Buffalo.

Photo by: Bree Bee

Rockets Roll to Fourth-Straight Victory with 87-74 Win Over Buffalo

2/4/2025 10:11:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Final Stats (PDF)

Sophomore Javan Simmons leads way with 18 points, 10 rebounds and six assists

TOLEDO, Ohio – Sophomore Javan Simmons tallied 18 points, 10 rebounds and six assists to lead the Toledo men's basketball team to its fourth-straight victory, an 87-74 Mid-American Conference triumph over visiting Buffalo in Savage Arena on Tuesday.

The victory allowed the Rockets (14-8, 8-2 MAC) to keep pace with league-leading Akron (17-5, 10-0 MAC) and second-place Miami (17-5, 9-1 MAC). The Zips posted a 81-73 home win over Ball State, while the RedHawks edged Central Michigan on the road by a 76-70 margin.

Toledo outrebounded the Bulls (7-15, 2-8 MAC) by a 41-32 margin, grabbing 15 of its boards on the offensive glass. Simmons collected five of those en route to his second-straight double-double.

QUOTING HEAD COACH TOD KOWALCZYK
"We took care of business at home the last two games with wins over Northern Illinois and Buffalo. We knew they were going to take a lot of threes and we did a great job on Ryan Sabol, who is their best shooter and was 0-for-7 tonight from three. We moved the ball really well tonight and also did a good job on the boards."

KEY PERFORMERS

Sam Lewis: 19 points (5-10 FG, 4-7 3PT), 5 reb.
Javan Simmons: 18 points (5-9 FG), 10 reb., 6 asst.
Sonny Wilson: 18 points (7-14 FG, 2-3 3PT), 5 reb., 5 asst.
Bryce Ford: 12 points (3-8 FG, 1-3 3PT), 4 reb., 2 stl.

TEAM STATS

Toledo: 45.3% FG, 42.1% 3PTFG% (8-of-19), 75.0% FT (21-of-28), 41 reb., 19 asst., 9 TOs.
Buffalo: 45.6% FG, 26.9% 3PTFG% (7-of-26), 71.4% FT (15-of-21), 32 reb., 10 asst., 12 TOs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST HALF

Sam Lewis scored seven points as the Rockets opened with an 11-2 lead at the 16:46 mark.
After Buffalo cut the lead to five, the Rockets responded with another 11-2 run capped by ally-oop dunk by Jaylan Ouwinga from Sonny Wilson to extend the lead to 29-15 with 7:11 left in the half.
Buffalo hit back-to-back threes to cut the lead to 36-29 at the 1:27 mark.
Seth Hubbard delivered a layup right before the buzzer to give Toledo a 42-32 halftime lead.
Toledo shot 48.5% (16-33) from the field while holding Buffalo to an 11-of-28 clip (39.3%).
Lewis and Javan Simmons each had 10 points in the first half.

SECOND HALF

Sonny Wilson scored nine points in the first seven minutes of the second half to help Toledo expand its lead to 58-40 with 13:13 to play.
Buffalo cut it to 64-52 on a three-pointer and breakaway layup by Noah Batchelor with 8:27 to play.
Toledo extended the lead to 17 on Lewis' three-pointer at the 5:45 mark.
Buffalo cut the lead to nine with a minute to go but never seriously threatened.

ROCKET ROUNDUP

Toledo has scored 84 or more points in each game of its four-game winning streak.
The Rockets have out-rebounded their opponent by at least seven boards in each of their last four contests for an average of 10.0 rpg.
Toledo has won its last eight meetings vs. Buffalo.
Javan Simmons now has three double-doubles this season and five in his career. He has eight or more rebounds in nine of 10 MAC contests.
Simmons also tied his career high with six assists.
Sam Lewis has scored 13 or more points in 13 of his last 14 games.
Bryce Ford has scored in double figures in four straight contests.

UP NEXT
The Rockets will conclude their three-game homestand with a MAC-Sun Belt Challenge matchup vs. defending Sun Belt Conference champion James Madison (14-9) on Saturday, Feb. 8.