TOLEDO WINS HOME OPENER

The Toledo Rockets returned home to Savage Arena, and came away with a convincing 82-67 win over Illinois-Chicago.

UT got out of the gate quickly, building a 17-3 lead with 14:46 remaining in the first half. Toledo was playing tough defense and doing a very good job of shooting the ball.

UIC cut the lead to eleven points after two consecutive 3-pointers by former Rocket Hayden Humes, But outside shooting by Rian Pearson and Ryan Majerle soon had the lead up to 18 points. A dunk by Delino Dear closed out the half with Toledo leading 45-25.

Pearson (photo right) was the star of the first half as he scored 17 points on 7 for 10 shooting from the field. He also showed the announced crowd of 4,093 that he's going to be a load to handle for any team that faces the Rockets.

UT shot 56% from the field while holding the visitors to 30%. UIC also shot a measly 15% on 3-pointers in the half.

The Rockets were on cruise control during much of the second half, as their lead stayed around 20 points. The Flames made a little run, cutting the lead to 13 on a triple by Jerome Brown with 4:20 remaining, but they couldn't get any closer until they chipped away and got to 77-65 with only 41 seconds left on the clock.

Toledo (4-1) shot 54% from the field, including 45% on 3-pointers. The Rockets only attempted nine shots from beyond the arc because they were having such good success going inside on UIC. The Flames did hold a big rebounding edge in the contest, 46-31, but their 25 turnovers and poor shooting were the difference. "Coach K tried to stress ball pressure before the game," Pearson said. "It's just part of our game."

Pearson lead all UT scorers with 27 points. Freshman point guard "Juice" Brown was the other double-figure scorer as he totaled 17 points and added 4 rebound and 4 assists.

"This was a great way to open up our home season," said head coach Tod Kowalczyk. "I really liked the way we started the first ten minutes of that game. I thought we had tremendous intensity and ball pressure, and our team defense was really good."