ROCKET MEN HANG ON FOR WIN

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Tyrone Kent scored on a drive and a jump shot with 3.1 seconds remaining in the game and Jonathon Amos intercepted the ensuing  out-of-bounds pass, a three-quarter court lob, to give the Rockets a 71-69 white-knuckle win over the visiting Golden Grizzlies of Oakland University in Savage Hall.

Saturday’s game was a classic “Tale of Two Halves” as Toledo built up a comfortable 15-point lead (48-23) in the first 20 minutes then watched it all but evaporate in the latter part of the second half as a result of some relentless defensive pressure by Oakland.

Things began well for UT as the Blue and Gold scored on their first four shots to take an early 9-0 lead. With Kent and Ridley Johnson supplying the bulk of the offense, and the entire team playing strong defense, Toledo forced the Grizzlies into 17 first-half turnovers in building that half-time lead..

Oakland is fond of putting up 3-pointers, hitting the long distant shot to the tune of 6.5 per game but against the Rocket perimeter defense the visitors dialed up just one trey on seven attempts before half time. Meanwhile, UT had the hot hand from beyond the arc, hitting on seven-of-15 attempts, with Kent hitting on four-of-five rainbows. Corey Bingham also had two 3-pointers coming off the bench.

For the half, the Rockets shot a sparkling 56.7 percent from the floor (17-30). Kent was pretty much unstoppable, making good on six-of-eight tosses enroute to 16 points. Johnson added 11 points on four-of-seven shooting. UT also recorded 11 steals in the half.

If there was a down side to Toledo’s effort in the opening stanza it was the old bug-a-boo of rebounding against a taller opponent; Oakland dominated inside, grabbing 19 rebounds to just nine for the Rockets.

Neither team was having a great deal of success finding the net in the first 10 minutes of the second half but the Rockets were able to expand their lead to 17 points, 52-35, with 9:44 remaining. But then a couple of things happened to change the course of the game: the Rockets began to be plagued by personal fouls and Oakland turned up the defensive screws big time, then turned them up some more.

Pressing and trapping the length of the floor, the Grizzlies forced Toledo into eight turnovers that led directly to 10 points in the final seven minutes of the contest. The Rockets added to their woes by committing six personal fouls during this critical period. Senior forward Jerrah Young was whistled to the bench with his fifth foul at the 2:21 mark and Kent and Johnson each played the final minutes of the game with four personal fouls.

Oakland’s sophomore point guard Jonathon Jones averages 13.7 points a contest. But with the game on the line he accounted for 15 of his game-high 29 points when the Grizzlies were clawing their way back into the contest. He was all but unstoppable as he repeatedly drove to the basket unmolested for easy layups. It was his jumper with one minute left to play that tied the score at 67, and it was his jumper with 34 seconds remaining that again tied the score at 69.

It was Kent, however, who got off the last shot of the game, an off-balance effort that preserved the win for Toledo.

The junior from Chicago was not without his problems however. He was whistled for his fourth foul with 10:49 yet to play and was forced to the bench for about five minutes until Coach Stan Joplin reinserted him into the lineup. He also had eight of Toledo’s 16 second-half turnovers.

Kent finished the evening with 22 points while Ridley Johnson checked in with 14 points. Before fouling out, Jerrah Young quietly recorded another double-double, 11 points and 11 rebounds. Jonathon Amos logged six steals on the evening.

Junior Anthony Byrd got his first start as a Rocket and responded with eight points in 33 minutes of action. Byrd was six-for-six from the free throw line, those points coming during Oakland’s run in the final minutes.

Jones led all scorers with 29 points – 18 of them coming in the second half. Forward Derrick Nelson added 14 points for Oakland.

With the win Toledo improves its record to 3-9 and gets a mini break until Sunday, Jan.6 when the Rockets host MAC West opponent Ball State. Starting time is 2:00 p.m.