LATE BASKET DOOMS ROCKETS

December 20, 2011 – For the second time in 10 days Toledo has gone to the wire against a visiting team only to lose the game on a last-second basket by the opponent. Back on December 10, Loyola sank a shot with one-second on the clock to beat the Rockets, 55-57.

On Tuesday, with the score tied at 70, it was Norfolk State's turn to break UT's heart when 6-10 center Kyle O'Quinn took an in-bounds pass under his own basket with just two-seconds on the clock and calmly scored an unmolested layup to hand the Rockets their fourth loss of this young season.

Unlike the Loyola game in which Toledo squandered a 14-point second-half lead, the Midnight Blue and Gold were forced to play from behind for much of Tuesday's contest before rallying in the final five minutes to knot the score on a steal and layup by Rian Pearson with just 00:34 left to play.

The visiting Spartans were holding the ball for a final shot but missed on a layup with five seconds remaining. Delino Dear got the rebound for Toledo, however, he inadvertently stepped on the base line for a turnover, setting the stage for NSU's winning basket.

Norfolk State, a school out of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) entered Tuesday's game with a 7-5 record, but was coming off of a blow-out, 68-36 road loss to Illinois State on December 18. The Spartans did have a pair of victories on a neutral floor but the team was winless on the road.

The Rockets got off to a nice start, breaking out to an 11-4 lead, with about five minutes gone in the first period before the hot-shooting Spartans tied things up at 15. The score was knotted at 19 with 7:42 to play when the visitors ran off 11 straight points to put Toledo into a hole that would ultimately be the difference in the game. And while NSU was forging its 30-19 lead, the visitors also threw a full court press at the Rockets, throwing them off of their rhythm.

Toledo shot poorly throughout the first 20 minutes and would have been down much more than the 41-33 half-time score, were it not for the newest Rocket, junior transfer Curtis Dennis. The 6-5 Dennis came off the bench to score 17 of his game-high 20 points before intermission. While the rest of the team made just 5-of-23 attempts before the break, Dennis was 6-of-8 from the floor, including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc.

And while Toledo was throwing up bricks early-on, Norfolk State had no trouble finding the cylinder, converting 17-of-28 attempts for 60.7% . In addition to their hot shooting, the Spartans were also having their way on the glass, grabbing 20 boards to Toledo's 14. Seventeen of NSU's rebound total were defensive grabs, making much of the half one-and done for the Rockets.

“Our biggest problem in the first half was our inability to take advantage of open looks,” said Tod Kowalczyk. "We're a talented offensive team but we didn't make shots and that affected us defensively. It's the sign of a young team. We can't allow how well we're playing offensively to dictate how we play on defense. That can't happen.”

Toledo spent the lion's share of the second half trying unsuccessfully to cut into NSU's lead. The Spartans led by as many as 13 points, 60-47 before the Rockets mounted their comeback. It began with UT converting some free throws to cut the lead to 62-57 with 5:35 to play. A triple from the corner by Dominique Buckley was soon followed by a traditional three-point play from Reese Holliday to make it a one-point game, 64-63.

It was back to a five-point game, 68-63, at the 2:50 mark when Pearson went to work for the Rockets. He scored Toledo's final seven points in a futile effort to pull a win out of the fire. First he converted a pair of free throws, then he hit a triple, and finally he got the steal and the layup to tie the game in the final 34 seconds. There would be no final heroics for the Rockets, however.

In addition to Dennis and his 20 points, Pearson tallied 16 points, and Reese Holliday finished with 11 to lead the Toledo scoring. Pearson also led Toledo in rebounding with eight grabs. After shooting 35.5% in the first half the Rockets shot a respectable 46.2 % in the final period.

NSU had four players finish in double figures led by sophomore guard Pendarvis Williams with 17 points. O'Quinn, who scored the winning basket, had 16 points. After their torrid shooting pace in the first half the Spartans cooled off somewhat after intermission but still finished shooting 55.6% on 30-of-54 from the floor.

Toledo 7-4, now flies down to Florida for a game against Florida Gulf Coast before returning to Savage Arena for a December 28 game against Cleveland State to close out 2011.