The University of Toledo men’s basketball team held on for its second win in a row with a 71-59 victory over Miami on Tuesday night thanks in large part to a renewed focus on the defensive end.
The defensive effort that carried Toledo to a 12-1 nonconference record was on display at Savage Arena as the Rockets held an opponent to 60 points or less for the sixth time this season and the first time since limiting Penn to just 45 points in its final nonconference game on Dec. 29.
That comes after giving up 75 or more points in its first three Mid-American Conference games, including 110 points in a loss at Buffalo.
“We got back to the basics,” Toledo sophomore guard Marreon Jackson said. “In practice, our coaches are preparing us to get back to our defense and how it was when we went 12-1 in the nonconference. We are just getting back to that.”
VIDEO: Toledo-Miami
Even with a hot-shooting night from Miami guard Nike Sibande, Toledo limited the RedHawks to 39.2 percent from the field.
“I was really happy with our complete effort,” UT coach Tod Kowalczyk said. “From start to finish I thought our effort and our energy and how we played was really good. Now in the second half, we didn’t always play smart…We just didn’t play smart and get that separation and we made a game of it. But we guarded all night long against a dangerous team.”
Toledo (14-3, 2-2 MAC) got 19 points from Jaelan Sanford, 12 points from Spencer Littleson, 11 from Luke Knapke, and 10 from Marreon Jackson.
Littleson made four 3-pointers in his second straight start in place of normal starter Willie Jackson as the team was looking for a defensive spark.
Sibande made 6-of-9 from the field, 4-of-6 from 3, and 10-of-15 from the foul line on his way to a game-high 26 points. Bowsher grad Dalonte Brown added 10 points for the RedHawks (8-9, 0-4 MAC).
“Give Sibande a lot of credit,” Kowalczyk said. “He hit some unbelievable shots. But I thought we played well. We missed some open 3’s and missed some dunks and layups, but we had 18 assists and seven turnovers. And then Spencer Littleson’s defense was tremendous. He’s been rewarded for his defense. I thought our bench energy was great too. I thought Willie Jackson was really good, Chris [Darrington] was really good and AJ [Edu] was good.”
Toledo got off to a quick start and led 19-8 with 10:04 left in the first half after a layup from Willie Jackson. Brown kept Miami in the game early as he scored the RedHawks first eight points.
The Rockets then led by as many as 16 in the first half after Sanford hit 1 of 2 free throws to give Toledo a 26-10 lead with 6:36 left.
Sibande quickly answered with two straight 3-pointers to cut the Toledo lead back to 10. After the teams went back-and-forth, Toledo took a 39-26 lead after a Navigato 3 with 2:06 left.
But Miami scored the last four points of the half and a Sibande jumper in the lane made it 39-30 at halftime.
The second half didn’t start well for the Rockets as Sanford missed a dunk attempt that resulted in a technical foul when he hung on the rim.
Miami eventually cut the lead to 51-50 after a jumper from Mekhi Lairy.
But Toledo used an 11-2 run to get a 62-52 lead with 5:21 left. During the run Marreon Jackson completed a 3-point play, Littleson knocked down a 3, and Knapke converted a layup and a 3.
“We got a little sloppy and comfortable with our lead,” Marreon Jackson said. “We finally settled everything down and we ran our plays and got back to doing what we were doing to get the lead.”
The RedHawks trimmed the lead to 62-56 after a jumper by Sibande, but Toledo scored the next seven points on a Sanford jumper, a Knapke layup, and another Littleson 3 to put the game out of reach.
“In conference play, we are going to get the best out of every team,” Marreon Jackson said. “Everyone has one goal and you are going to have a lot of close games. You have to be able to finish them off.”
First Published January 16, 2019, 2:13 a.m.
