TOLEDO POSTS HOME WIN OVER DREXEL

 Stan Joplin and his road-weary, short-handed band of warriors returned home to the friendly confines of Savage Hall on Saturday and came away with a 57-44 win over the Drexel Dragons of Philadelphia.

“Obviously, it’s nice to be back home,” said Head Coach Stan Joplin. “We play a little bit better at home, the players had some better results and we got ourselves a nice win.”

Toledo spotted Drexel a 4-0 lead before Tyrone Kent scored on a lay-up and Jonathan Amos put back a Kent miss to pull even with three minutes gone in the first half. Amos, who was fouled while shooting, gave the Rockets a one-point lead with his free throw.

Fueled by their high-energy defense and some long-range shooting the Rockets then went on a 21-4 tear that featured back-to-back triples by Kent, a pair by Ridley Johnson, and one from Anthony Byrd that finished the run.

And while UT was having its way on the court, the Dragons were guilty of some sloppy play – nine turnovers – and poor shooting, seven minutes and 30 seconds without a field goal.

The teams finished the opening session with Jarrah Young scoring on a layup as time was running out, to give UT a 36-19 cushion going into intermission.

The Rockets shot 44.8% from the floor in the first half with Tyrone Kent (12 points) leading the way, closely followed by Johnson with 10 points.

Drexel came out with a full court trapping press that caused Toledo to turn the ball over on two consecutive possessions early in the second half. The visitors took advantage of their pressure to convert those miscues into four points, cutting UT’s lead .to 38-23.

But after Joplin called a timeout to talk things over, Amos scored on a layup, Young hit a jumper, and Byrd threw down another triple to put the home squad back up, 45-28, with 13:50 on the clock.

Joplin was forced to go to his short bench when Kent picked up his fourth personal foul with 11:25 left to play in the game, forcing him to sit down for the better part of seven minutes and putting Amos at the point. But UT really never missed a beat with its leading scorer sitting next to the coach. When Kent reentered the game after a seven minute hiatus the Rockets were still up by17 points, 53-37.

Toledo got a little careless in the closing minutes, committing several turnovers with lazy passing and allowing Drexel to cut the margin to 13 points, but it was way too little, too late for the visitors, who never could find their shooting eye to make a serious run.

The Rockets had four players in double-figures led by Kent with 14 (just two points in the second half) followed by Young, 12 points; Amos, 11 points; and Johnson, 10 points.

Drexel’s center, Frank Elegar, had 12 points for the visitors.

In addition to his point production, Amos finished the evening with nine rebounds, three assists, and six steals.

Two new Rockets played extended minutes against Drexel: freshman Corey Bingham logged 31 minutes, and junior transfer Anthony Byrd saw 27 minutes of action.

After a very shaky start that included three missed layups and four turnovers Young regrouped to get his first career double-double as he brought down 10 rebounds in addition to his 12 points. He was six-of-12 from the field for the game.

Commentating on his play, Young said, “Early in the first half I got a number of turnovers, I was playing good defense but as far as offense I wasn’t concentrating and I made a number of mistakes. In the second half the coaches and my teammates kept encouraging me and I just stuck with it.”

Following the game, Joplin said, “We have to learn how to play with a lead because this team hasn’t experienced that. They have to go through that process and it was good for us to go through that tonight. This was a good game for us to learn from.”

It certainly was a good win for the Rockets, now 2-7,  but they get no respite as two more road games are waiting to be played before a Christmas break: The team travels to UMass for a game next Saturday, then its west to Chicago for a Dec.19 game against Illinois-Chicago.