BOWLING GREEN — If this was Chris Darrington’s only taste of the Toledo-Bowling Green rivalry, the hometown kid sure made it count Saturday.
Darrington talked a big game and played a bigger one in the Rockets’ swaggering 78-71 win at the Stroh Center.
There he was instigating the roaring house one moment — see: his back-and-forth woofing with the student section, BG players, and Freddie Falcon (probably) — silencing it the next.
“I couldn’t ask for anything better,” the backup senior guard said with a smiler wider than the frozen Maumee after pouring in a game-high 20 points.
This was the performance the Scott grad imagined when he transferred home from Tennessee for his final season.
And, for that matter, just the big stage.
Here was college hoops at its best, a high-stakes game — the biggest between the rivals in a generation — in a high-volume setting, with another overflow crowd of more than 5,000 bursting this tinderbox at its seams.
Darrington played in many big venues in the SEC last year. He said this was louder than any of them, with the exception of Arkansas.
“There was even a point in time on the bench where I plugged my ears,” he said.
And you know what? He loved it.
“Definitely,” he said. “I love playing in big games like this.”
Man, did it show.
Through 23 games, Darrington had been a fine piece on this very good Toledo team, a natural scorer who provided pop off the bench but less than he anticipated. The major-conference talent who came to Toledo with big designs had averaged 6.1 points the last eight league games. “It hasn’t been easy for him,” Toledo coach Tod Kowalczyk said.
But his offensive flair and sweet stroke are unmistakeable, and there was something about this setting — the crowd, the rivalry, the thrust and parry of a game that featured 15 lead changes — that summoned his best.
In the kind of game that demanded a fearless player who lives for the big moment, who basks in the cheers and the jeers, Darrington proved just that guy.
Just when league-leading Bowling Green appeared set to reorder this one-sided rivalry, he and his teammates made other plans. Darrington scored 13 points in the second half, including a dagger layup that put the visitors up 72-69, then four free throws to ice the victory for the hottest team in the MAC.
About the only shot he missed all night — OK, he was only 5 of 9 — was a high-five of Jaelan Sanford.
After powering through a foul to hit a 3 early in the second half, he was so lost in celebration that he swung through one teammate (Sanford) and smacked another (Spencer Littleson) square in the eye, knocking him out of the game.
“He looks like Rocky Balboa in the locker room right now,” Darrington said.
Darrington apologized profusely to Littleton — who was fine after a little ice — then went back to throwing big-shot haymakers at the other guys.
“Chris came home to represent the City of Toledo, the University of Toledo,” Kowalczyk said. “He loves Toledo. The whole time we recruited him, all he talked about was the 419, the 419. When he came back home, it was great for our program. ... Here was his first chance to beat our rival. It’s a special night for him.”
And, no, he wasn’t afraid to let you know it, including during one entertaining staredown with the student section.
“I love it,” Darrington said. “They were talking crazy to me.”
Hey, a little fun never hurt anyone.
“Chris likes to talk,” Kowalczyk said. “He likes to talk. Some guys are good at that type of game. I wasn’t one of those guys. I’m not one of those guys. Jaelan [Sanford], Nate [Navigato], same thing, they’re not talking. Some guys are good at it. Willie [Jackson] is good at it. Marreon [Jackson] is good at it.”
Then he smiled.
“Chris is the best at it.”
Afterward, BG coach Michael Huger pulled Darrington aside in the handshake line and told him, “You’re a hell of a player.”
With a place now in rivalry lore.
First Published February 10, 2019, 4:38 a.m.
