TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo men's basketball team mounted a furious second-half comeback but ultimately fell short against first-place Akron, 96-87, on Tuesday night in Savage Arena. The Rockets (16-14, 9-8 MAC) trailed by 24 points early in the second half before rallying within three points with 2:14 remaining. The Zips (24-6, 16-1 MAC) made all 10 of their free throws the rest of the way to secure the victory.
 
Sophomore Sam Lewis tied his career high with 23 points (21 in the second half) to lead Toledo offensively. Javan Simmons also established a new scoring best for a second-straight game with 22 points to go along with a team-best six rebounds. Shammah Scott led six Zips in double figures with 16 points.
 
The Rockets shot 72.7% and scored 63 points in the second half after trailing by a 45-24 margin at halftime.

Toledo is now in a fifth-place tie with Eastern Michigan (16-14, 9-8 MAC) in the league standings, one game behind Kent State (20-10, 10-7 MAC) and Ohio (16-14, 10-7 MAC).
 
QUOTING HEAD COACH TOD KOWALCZYK
 
"We had a poor start again but an unbelievable effort in the second half. We can't dig ourselves a hole like that. We have to be smarter defensively, especially when you make a scouting mistake against a really good team that passes it well and shoots it well. They're going to exploit you and that's what happened tonight. Akron makes the extra pass and hits contested shots. We need to come out against Ohio with the team grit we had in the second half and get ourselves back on track."
 
ROCKET LEADERS

• Sam Lewis: 23 pts., 4-8 3FG
• Javan Simmons: 22 pts., 6 reb., 9-9 FT
• Sonny Wilson: 16 pts., 3 stl., 7- 12 FG
• Isaiah Adams: 14 pts., 5 reb., 5 asst., 3 stl.

TEAM STATS
Toledo: 52.4 FG%, 31.3 3PTFG% (5-of-16), 64.0 FT% (16-of-25), 24 Reb., 16 Asst., 11 TO
Akron: 57.1 FG%, 54.2 3PTFG% (13-of-24), 86.4 FT% (19-of-22), 37 Reb., 21 Asst., 18 TO

UP NEXT
Toledo will host Ohio on Senior Night on Friday, March 7. Tipoff in Savage Arena is set for 7:00 p.m. with streaming on ESPN+.