ROCKET MEN IMPRESSIVE IN EXHIBITION WIN

November 03, 2011 – Coach Tod Kowalczyk took the wraps off of the 2011-12 University of Toledo basketball team Thursday evening at Savage Arena, and the end result was a resounding 88-62 exhibition win over the University of Northwestern Ohio, an NAIA school located in Lima, Ohio.

Sophomore guard Rian Pearson, a transfer who was forced to sit out last season, led four Rockets in double figures with a sparkling 24-point, 11-rebound effort. “It just felt good to be out there again,” commented Pearson after the win. “But I know I have to do a lot of work on my defense.”

Pearson also had a monster put-back dunk about mid-way through the second half that brought the appreciative crowd of about 1,700 fans to its feet. “There's a lot more of them coming,” said Pearson jokingly.

Also stepping up big for Toledo in their inaugural appearance on Nichols Court were a pair of freshman, Julius “Juice” Brown and Ryan Majerle. Brown, a true point guard, finished with 20 points, six rebounds, four assists, and two steals in 31 minutes on the court. His only turnover was a carry in the second half. In speaking to the media about his performance Brown said “Coach K has a lot of confidence in me but my teammates really help me out a lot in practice. My goal tonight was to limit my turnovers and that's something every point guard wants to do.”

Majerle, a sharp-shooter from Belmont, MI was 7-of-9 from the floor in totaling 19 points, a figure that included five 3-pointers in seven attempts. All but three of his points came in the final 20 minutes.

The fourth player to reach the double digit mark was sophomore forward Matt Smith, a player who transferred to Toledo along with Pearson when Kowalczyk left the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay job to take over the reins at Toledo. He finished the night with 14 points and seven rebounds but left the game after injuring an ankle driving for a layup with just under three minutes remaining in the contest.

A third transfer who started for Toledo on Thursday was junior guard Dominique Buckley. Sharing point guard duties with Brown as well as playing the off guard, the Romulus Mi native had nine points, three rebounds, and six assists.

Unlike the opening exhibition game last season when the Rockets struggled to claim a hard-fought 82-80 victory over Siena Heights, this game was decided mid-way through the first half when UT jumped out to a 14-point, 20-6 lead that put the visiting Racers back on their heels. The Midnight Blue and Gold led by as many 24 points late in the first half before heading to the locker room with a 41-20 cushion.

The Rockets got a little sloppy on defense in the second half allowing a number of easy baskets but their offensive prowess kept Northwestern from cutting into that substantial lead.

“You play these exhibition games to learn about yourself, grow, and get better,” said Kowalczyk after the game. “We can take a lot from this game both on the positive end and certainly the negative end. It's been 596 days since Rian Pearson and Matt Smith have had a jersey on, and a lot more days for Dominique Buckley. Those guys were anxious, excited, and had a lot of adrenalin which may have hurt them a little. We're a young team and we're going to get better but we've got to do better defensively. I don't think we stayed in front of the dribble nearly well enough.”

Commenting on the performance of Pearson, the coach said: “Rian Pearson is a very active player who had a great personal game plan coming in. It wasn't about him scoring it was about how he was going to guard and make other people better, and when he plays that way, he get 24 points and 11 rebounds.”

UT shot a very commendable 49.3% from the floor on the evening and recorded 18 assists against 10 turnovers.

But as well as things went for Toledo in this exhibition, everything wasn't all Roses. The big men, Delano Dear and Richard Wonnell were mostly MIA for the game scoring just two points and grabbing five rebounds between them, and the defense was inconsistent, especially in the second half.

Still, most of the fans left the arena with smiles on the faces and praise for what they saw on the court. It should be a very entertaining season.