MAC CHAMPS

March 4, 2007 - Toledo defeated Central Michigan today 77-57 to win its first outright regular season MAC title in 27 years.

Again, it was the Rocket defense that allowed UT to pull away to a nineteen point half-time lead and then cruise to the victory.

"I didn't think we were being as aggressive as we should early," Stan Joplin said. It starts with Kashif (Payne) and when you're playing someone like Giordan Watson you've got your hands full because he can go inside or outside. We need to double-team and rotate, so we emphasized that during timeouts. When we got one steal, the players got energy from that."

The Rockets helped cause 23 CMU turnovers, and even had a rare edge on the boards, out-rebounding Central Michigan 38-29.

"I just feel good for the players and the fans because it's been a long time coming," Joplin said. "I talked to the players about leaving a legacy and putting a banner up."

Keonta Howell led Toledo in scoring with 19 points, and Justin Ingram, Ridley Johnson and Jonathan Amos were also in double figures.

The post-game celebration included balloons and confetti falling from the rafters and players and coaches cutting down the nets.

Toledo finished with a 14-2 MAC record and will have the #1 seed in the MAC Tournament.