AKRON — Marreon Jackson hit seven 3-pointers and had a career-high 36 points, Willie Jackson had a double-double, and Toledo ended Akron’s 12-game home winning streak with a 99-89 men’s basketball victory on Saturday.
Willie Jackson had a career-high 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, and Luke Knapke had 19 points for the Rockets (10-8, 2-3 Mid-American Conference), who went 15-of-26 from 3-point range (57.7 percent).
After a rough stretch of losing three of its first four conference games, the Rockets came together for a much-needed victory.
"We needed this win," Toledo coach Tod Kowalczyk said. “We've been struggling with our confidence and finishing games, and it was great to see us do that today. We stared right in the eye of adversity today and came out with a win."
It was a season-high for 3-point makes and 3-point shooting percentage for Toledo, which led to 56.7 percent shooting overall. The Rockets also were 16-of-18 from the foul line.
Marreon Jackson was 11-of-20 from the field, 7-of-12 from deep, and 7-of-8 from the foul line. Willie Jackson was 9-of-16 from the field and 5-of-6 at the free-throw line. Knapke and Spencer Littleson hit three 3-pointers each for the Rockets, while Keshaun Saunders had two 3-pointers.
The balanced offensive effort was a welcome sign for Toledo against Akron, which came into the game with the top scoring defense in the MAC.
"We had a total team effort and I'm so proud of everyone on the team," Kowalczyk said. "Marreon and Willie both came up really big for us, but we also had some big shots from Spencer [Littleson] and Keshaun [Saunders] in the final minutes."
Loren Cristian Jackson made seven 3-pointers and had 33 points, both career highs, for the Zips (14-4, 4-1 MAC), who had their five-game winning streak end despite hitting 13 3-pointers and shooting 51 percent.
Tyler Cheese had 19 points and tied his career-high with seven assists, and Xeyrius Williams had 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
Akron was was only giving up 62.5 points a game this season and had not allowed more than 79 at home in going 10-0 to start the season. The Zips won their first four league games by an average of 19.3 points.
A late 19-5 run helped the Rockets lead 46-36 at the half, shooting 65 percent. Akron recovered with a 16-2 run to open the second half and kept the lead until Marreon Jackson scored 11 straight. Jackson had a layup and three straight 3-pointers for a 75-68 Toledo lead with 8:13 to play. After adding two free throws, he had completed a run of 16-straight points for the Rockets.
First Published January 19, 2020, 1:32 a.m.
