ROCKETS BURY INDIANA-NORTHWEST

Every Rocket who saw playing time made his way into the scoring column and no player was on the floor for more than 26 minutes. Sophomore forward DeLino Dear was the only Toledo player not to see action.

Indiana-Northwest, located in Gary Indiana, arrived in Toledo with a 2-12 record and a roster that had just one player taller than six feet-four inches. For the visiting RedHawks, the spirit certainly was willing, but there wasn't a soul on their team who could compete with the Midnight Blue and Gold.

Some fans will scratch their heads and wonder why Toledo would ever a schedule an NAIA opponent, but for Tod Kowalczyk it all had to do with preparing his team for the rest of the season. “I thought tonight's game was good for a lot of reasons. When you play a non-Division One team you want to make sure you try to get better and we had one goal tonight: not playing down to the competition. Our guys need to grow up and mature, and from start to finish tonight we played with discipline and focus and we never did play down to them. We just worried about us getting better.

We've recently lost some close games and the team is still maturing. Right now it doesn't handle adversity well, and most young teams don't. Tonight we were just trying to grow up together and we took a step in the right direction.”

Led by sophomore Matt Smith, who had 10 points in the first six minutes of the half, Toledo ran out to a 22-8 lead at the 14:10 mark, then quickly increased the margin to 37-12 with eight minutes still left to play before intermission. Indiana-Northwest threw a full court press at Toledo in an attempt to slow the Rockets down, but the Toledo attack was relentless. With Smith, Rian Pearson, and Reese Holliday scoring in the paint, and “Juice” Brown and Dominique Buckley throwing up three-pointers, the point parade continued unmolested, halted only by the horn ending the half. By then the score was 66-24 and every Rocket who would see playing time had already earned some quality minutes.

Toledo finished the half shooting 66%, converting on 23-of-35 shots, including 7-of-12 from beyond the arc. “We moved and passed the ball well in the first half,” said Kowalczyk. “We made the extra pass, had a lot of assists, and only had four turnovers at halftime. We never settled for the first open shot against their zone defense and our ball reversal was key. The more patient this team is, the better we play offensively”

The first-half ancillary statistics where tipped overwhelmingly in Toledo's favor as UT outscored the RedHawks in the paint 30-8 and tallied 25 points off 13 UI-N turnovers.

Pearson opened the scoring in the second half with a dunk and ignited a 17-0 run that soon had Toledo up by 58 points, 83-24, before Indiana-Northwest could get on the scoreboard. Meanwhile, the visitors were held scoreless for the first seven minutes before finally converting a free throw.

Toledo broke the century mark when James Ewing fed Curtis Dennis who slammed the ball home for a 101-36 lead with 4:36 yet to be played. Big Richard Wonnell ended all of the scoring when he tipped in a missed shot in the final 22 seconds, and the Rockets had their most one-sided win in many a moon. One would have to go all the all the way back to before World War II when Toledo hung a 66 point, 84-18, loss on Adrian College back in the 1937-38 season.

For the game, four Rockets finished in double-figures and three others came close: Smith led all scorers with 21 points in 21 minutes of action; Brown had 20 points, eight assists and four steals in his time on the floor; Pearson had a double-double: 19 points and 13 rebounds; and Buckley finished with 15 points, six assists, two blocks, and five steals.

One of Kowalczyk's mini-goals for this game was to make sure that freshman A.J. Mathew and the 6-9 sophomore Wonnell, got plenty of playing time against Indiana-Northwest. Mathew was in the game for 24 minutes, scoring three points, grabbing five rebounds and recording two steals. Wonnell just missed a double-double with eight points and 10 rebounds while playing 21 minutes. “At some point in the season these two guys are going to be factors,” stated the Toledo coach. “I don't know when, but it's going to happen.”

So dominant was Toledo's play that the RedHawks made just three baskets in the second half while shooting 24.5% for the contest. UT finished the game shooting 55% making 39-of-71 shots

Toledo had a season high 24 assists in the game and committed 13 turnovers. Indiana-Northwest committed 25 turnovers and the Rockets scored 36 points off of those RedHawk miscues.

DeLino Dear was a spectator for the game and Kowalczyk would only state that the big forward was being sent a strong message that he needs to understand what it means to be a Rocket, and that it was an all-encompassing problem.

Toledo opens conference play with a January 7 road trip to Central Michigan. One can be certain that the game with the Chippewas wont be the cakewalk that the Indiana-Northwest game was.