KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Whatever funk Toledo was in is over.
The Rockets shot their way past Western Michigan on Tuesday night, delivering a 92-50 victory while shooting 51.4 percent. They have a smothering defense to thank, as the Broncos were a woeful 18 of 65.
Toledo held Western Michigan scoreless for the first 10 minutes, 12 seconds of the second half.
“Our defense was at an all-time high,” Rockets coach Tod Kowalczyk said.
Toledo maintained its grip on first place in the Mid-American Conference. The Rockets are tied with Ohio, though UT holds the tiebreaker. Kent State is one game back.
Slow starts plagued UT (22-6, 14-3) in its past two games, a home loss to Kent State and a too-close-for-comfort win over six-win Central Michigan. On Tuesday, Toledo took it right at the Broncos from the outset, converting its first four shots en route to a 14-5 lead.
Western Michigan (6-22, 2-15) stayed close, even taking a lead late in the first half. But UT’s offense didn’t dissipate. The Rockets closed the half on a 13-7 run, and then scored 28 consecutive points to begin the second half, as the Broncos went scoreless for more than 10 minutes, missing 15 straight shots.
Western Michigan turned the ball over eight times in the second half after having zero turnovers in the first half.
“We were just playing Rocket basketball,” said UT guard Ra’Heim Moss, who had two steals. “I thought we went out there and really bought into guarding and getting stops. We knew if we could come out here and get stops that no other team could stop us on the offensive end.”
Setric Millner, Jr., had a career-high 28 points on 11-of-14 shooting, including 5 of 6 from 3-point range, with eight rebounds. Millner had 17 points in the first half.
“It was amazing. My teammates set me up well, and I just knocked shots down,” Millner said. “After I hit my second or third 3, I was like, ‘OK, the rim is looking a little bigger now. I feel good.’”
Ryan Rollins had 20 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists, Moss had 12 points and seven rebounds, and RayJ Dennis finished with 11 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists.
The Rockets made a season-high-tying 11 3s, and outrebounded Western Michigan 57-30.
“When we get stops and get out in transition, we’re hard to play against,” Kowalczyk said. “Tonight, our transition was so good because of our spacing and we made the extra pass. We didn’t settle. We didn’t take bad shots. We got to the basket. We made open 3s. We just played well.
“I’ve got to be honest with you. I was deathly afraid of this game. I have so much respect for Western Michigan. This team hasn’t quit. They’ve been in every game. They were up 16 on Buffalo the other night. They beat a good Akron team. [Lamar] Norman is a first-team all-league talent. B. Artis White was all-league last year. [Markeese] Hastings is the best rebounder in the league.”
Western Michigan’s talented backcourt was stymied by the Rockets. Norman, the leading scorer in the MAC, was limited to nine points on 3-of-14 shooting. White was even less effective — six points, 2 of 14. The duo was a combined 5 of 19 from long range.
“We came out and had one assignment: shut out B. Artis and Norman,” Moss said. “We came out and handled that.”
“I knew they couldn’t beat us unless Norman went off,” Kowalczyk added, “and we didn’t let him go off tonight.”
First Published February 23, 2022, 2:46 a.m.
