The University of Toledo men's basketball team got big games from its big three and made just enough plays to hold off a furious second-half rally from Western Michigan in a 76-73 win on Monday night in a first round Mid-American Conference tournament game at Savage Arena.
Marreon Jackson led Toledo (17-15) with 25 points, Willie Jackson added 22 points and 16 rebounds, and Luke Knapke scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
The big performance by the Toledo trio ensured that the Rockets survive and advance to take on rival Bowling Green at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in a MAC tournament quarterfinal game at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland.
“I thought it was an unbelievably gutty performance,” Toledo coach Tod Kowalczyk said. “I thought from start to finish we played well at both ends of the floor. I thought we guarded for 40 minutes. I thought offensively we moved the ball. We had 16 assists and eight turnovers.”
Western Michigan (13-19) got almost all of its offense from Michael Flowers (35 points) and Brandon Johnson (19 points) who put on a show at times with their ability to make tough shots.
Toledo took a 19-point lead in the second half when Knapke hit a 3-pointer to make it 57-38. Western Michigan chipped away at the lead and, thanks to the scoring of Flowers and Johnson, cut its deficit to four points at 70-66 with 3:20 left.
“Their runs — I really believe this and I'll watch the film — were much more just really good offensive tough shot-making ability by Flowers and by Johnson,” Kowalczyk said. “I think Willie and Spencer [Littleson] particularly did a great job defensively. They hit some unbelievably tough shots. There may have been two or three defensive breakdowns, but not many.”
When Flowers hit a 3-pointer in front of his bench, the Broncos had come all the way back within a point at 70-69 with 1:58 left. On Toledo's next possession, Willie Jackson tipped in a missed layup by Marreon Jackson to extend it back to a 3-point lead.
Then off a chaotic loose-ball scramble, Toledo came up with a steal and Marreon Jackson broke free for a layup to make it 74-69 with 54 seconds left.
“The biggest thing is staying together from the beginning,” Willie Jackson said. “We stayed locked in. That’s the biggest thing is staying together and not pointing fingers and leadership. It's a game of runs. We all know that. It's how you handle it and I feel like tonight we handled it.”
After both teams turned the ball over, Willie Jackson broke free for a layup off an out-of-bounds play to stretch the lead to 76-69. Then Western Michigan got two layups to close out the game.
“We just had to do what it takes,” Marreon Jackson said. “It's all about 3-14 [March 14's MAC tournament final]. We got three games left. Teams are going to go on runs and teams are going to make mistakes. We try to limit them as much as possible and do whatever it takes.”
Toledo led by as many as 16 points in the first half, but after a Flowers 3-pointer, the lead was trimmed to 38-34. In danger of seeing its 16-point lead become just four at the half, Toledo got a 3-pointer from Marreon Jackson just before the buzzer that made it 41-34 at halftime.
The Rockets used a 10-0 run to start the second half to get some distance before Western Michigan made its push.
Toledo now matches up with Bowling Green in round 3 of the Battle of I-75 game – this time in Cleveland.
The Falcons won the first two meetings, but the Rockets enter the game as winners of five of their past six games and with the experienced core that they have, they are confident that they can make a run in the tournament.
“I think we can beat anyone,” Kowalczyk said. “I don't watch all the games, I'm just worried about the next opponent, but I would have to think we are playing as good as anybody right now.”
First Published March 10, 2020, 2:20 a.m.
