Toledo rockets past Central Michigan

By Mike Bauman The Independent Collegian

January 17, 2008

Toledo, OH (UWIRE) -- The Rockets came into Savage Hall Wednesday night and defeated the visiting Central Michigan University Chippewas 72-61 in a defensive battle for their second Mid-American Conference win of the season. The Rockets are now 2-1 in MAC play and 5-10 overall.

"Defensively, it's a good win," said head coach Stan Joplin. "What we wanted to do was try to attack on offense and go to the free-throw line, and we did a nice job there."

Both teams battled hard on the defensive end in the first half, and baskets were not easy to come by. The score at the 11:32 mark was only 7-7. Senior forward Jerrah Young then went four for four from the free-throw line to give the Rockets an 11-7 edge.

Toledo outscored the Chippewas 9-3 over the next four minutes, building a 20-10 edge at the 6:58 mark. Senior guard Giordan Watson scored five-straight points in the next minute to close Toledo's lead to five. The Rockets regrouped after their timeout and outscored Central Michigan 11-2 over the next three minutes.

That lead quickly diminished as reserve junior forward Chris Kellermann came in around the two minute mark and knocked down a three and two quick field goals to make the score 31-24. Senior guard Tyrone Kent responded with a three in the waning seconds of the half, which extended the Rockets' lead back to 10.

Watson then heaved the ball from just beyond half court and hit nothing but net, sending the Chippewas into the half down 34-27. Both teams shot nine for 26 from the floor in the first half, and Central Michigan's bench outscored Toledo's bench 16-2.

The difference in the half for the Rockets was their free throw shooting. Toledo was 13 for 16 from the line in the first half, and its consistency at the line would prove to be the difference in the game.

"Free throws are always going to be important, but we've been working on it all of practice," Amos said. "Games are going to be close and we need to knock them down."

Watson and Kellermann's late first-half heroics continued to start the second half as their efforts tied the score at 34 with just more that three minutes off the clock. Kent came back with a difficult lay up from left of the lane to give Toledo back the lead.

After a media timeout at the 15:28 mark, the Rockets went on a 21-9 run and had a 60-45 lead by the 8:06 mark. The closest the Chippewas got from that point was nine as Toledo held on to win 72-61.

The Rockets shot 29 of 40 from the free throw line in the game and were 19 of 47 from the field. Despite shooting 22 of 59 from the field, the Chippewas only had nine points from the charity strike, and it was the difference in the game.

"That (free throws) was a big focus in practice, and we shot a lot of free throws in practice to prepare for this game," Kent said. "We just had to come out here and knock it down."

Tyrone Kent led the Rockets with 20 points and four assists. Jerrah Young and junior guards Jonathan Amos and Ridley Johnson combined for 42 points and 19 rebounds for Toledo. Giordan Watson led all scorers with 23 points.

The Rockets will be in action again on Saturday when they face the Western Michigan Broncos in Kalamazoo, Mich. at 2 p.m.