CINCINNATI – An undermanned University of Toledo men’s basketball team hung with Xavier for a half, but ultimately was overmatched in a 78-64 loss in a first-round NIT matchup Wednesday night at the Cintas Center.
Toledo, which was forced to play without Marreon Jackson, Willie Jackson, and Dylan Alderson due to injuries, stuck with a six-man rotation and got a gutsy effort from its three seniors – Jaelan Sanford, Nate Navigato, and Chris Darrington.
Sanford led the way for Toledo (25-8) with 23 points, Darrington added 18 points, and Navigato scored 16 points.
The Rockets came out in a 3-2 zone defense anchored by their two big men Luke Knapke and AJ Edu, the first time they have shown that look all season. It seemed to throw off Xavier a bit in the first half, but the Musketeers solved that riddle in the second when they shot 45.9 percent from the field and 46.7 percent from the 3-point line.
“Tonight’s game I thought we battled against a really talented Xavier team,” Toledo coach Tod Kowalczyk said. “The first half I thought our zone flustered them a little bit. We really only played six players tonight down two starters and our ninth man. We were down three guys and I thought that our six was good enough to win. I really believed that.”
VIDEO: UT coach Tod Kowalczyk
The first half was tightly contested and featured seven ties and eight lead changes as the teams went into the locker room tied at 27.
But Xavier went on a game-changing 23-2 run early in the second half to put the game out of reach for Toledo. A layup by Darrington gave the Rockets a 36-35 lead with 16:04 left. The Musketeers then scored 23 of the next 25 points in the game and by the 10-minute mark of the second half had opened up a 58-38 lead.
“In the second half we had some live-ball turnovers which got them in transition and got their crowd going,” Kowalczyk said. “That one stretch, they started hitting some 3’s. We had some guys that we wanted shooting those shots make some 3’s. That was the turning point. They got it going, and it was hard to stop them. Give them credit.”
Toledo had a tough time rebounding the ball with a combination of long rebounds coming against its zone defense and the physical size and toughness of the Xavier inside players. Overall, the Musketeers outrebounded the Rockets 51-31.
“There were a lot of long rebounds that didn’t go our way,” Navigato said. “They have a great rebounder in [Tyrique Jones]. He’s tough under there and is strong. It felt like he got everything. We needed to do a better job of getting him out of the lane."
Naji Marshall was a monster all game long and recorded 20 points, 21 rebounds, and six assists to spark the Musketeers (19-15). Tyrique Jones added 14 points and eight rebounds, Quentin Goodin scored 11 points, and Paul Scruggs chipped in with 10 points.
Sanford was 8-of-17 from the field and made all six of his foul shots and along with his 23 points, he had six rebounds and four assists in his 38 minutes.
“I just want to say that I am extremely proud of our guys considering the circumstances that we had going in with six or seven guys,” Sanford said. “I think we played really well and actually gave ourselves a chance to win the ball game. The second half, if you take away some of our turnovers, it’s a different ball game.”
Unfortunately for Toledo, the injury bug hit at the most important point of the season.
“It hurts to have two of your better players out for sure, but we have to play through it,” Navigato said. “We played through adversity all year and we made the most of it. We knew coming in, with the players we have and the way we can shoot the ball and the way we play defense, we were going to give ourselves a chance. In the second half, they just went on a run that we couldn’t catch up to. I thought we fought really hard and did a lot of good things.”
First Published March 21, 2019, 12:51 a.m.
