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Toledo Rockets Men's Basketball Drops an 81-79 Decision to CMU

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Basketball

Toledo dropped an 81-79 decision at Central Michigan on Tuesday night when the Chippewas' Meikkel Murray scored on a put-back with 3.0 seconds remaining. Even with the defeat, the Rockets (19-7, 14-4 MAC) secured an outright Mid-American Conference regular-season title due to Akron losing at Buffalo and Kent State's game vs. Ohio being canceled.

"I'm proud of this team and what we've accomplished," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "Central Michigan hit some unbelievably tough shots tonight and you have to give them credit. I didn't think our defense was the issue. I thought we got stagnant offensively down the stretch and didn't execute like we can. We'll regroup from this and get back to work."

Freshman Ryan Rollins paced the Rocket attack with 17 points and was joined in double figures by senior Spencer Littleson (16 pts.), senior Marreon Jackson (15 pts.) and junior Setric Millner Jr. (14 pts.)

Jackson also tied his career high with 14 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season.

The guard tandem of Caleb Huffman and Murray topped the Chippewas (7-15, 3-12 MAC) with 26 and 24 points, respectively.

The Rockets will wrap up their regular season on Friday, March 5 vs. Ball State. Tip-off time for the Senior Night contest is set for 7:00 p.m. and will be televised nationally on the CBS Sports Network.

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST HALF

  • Toledo jumped out to an early 8-3 lead thanks to three-point field goals from Marreon Jackson and Spencer Littleson.
  • After CMU rallied to take a 16-15 lead, the Rockets responded with a 17-0 spurt capped off by a Jackson triple for a 32-16 cushion at the 6:22 mark.
  • Treys from CMU's Caleb Huffman and Matt Beachler cut Toledo's lead to 10 but Setric Millner Jr.'s layup put the Rockets back in front, 38-22, 3:24 before halftime.
  • CMU rallied again to within eight, but Ryan Rollins' two free throws gave the Rockets a 42-32 lead at intermission.

SECOND HALF

  • Toledo took its largest advantage of the night, 54-37, following Littleson's three-pointer just under five minutes into the second half.
  • The Rockets' lead remained in double digits until CMU scored five straight points on a single possession to close the gap to 62-53 with 10:01 remaining.
  • Millner Jr. committed a foul on CMU's three-point attempt and Littleson was then whistled for a technical foul. Huffman hit two free throws for the technical, and Ralph Bissanthe then knocked down three more.
  • Toledo regrouped and pushed its lead back to 69-55 three minutes later following six straight points from Mattia Acunzo.
  • Littleson buried a triple with just under four minutes left to push the Rockets' lead back to 75-67.
  • Huffman's deep trey then capped off a 10-2 spurt to even the score at 77-77 with 1:02 left.
  • Meikkel Murray's layup put CMU ahead 79-77, with 30.6 seconds left.
  • Ryan Rollins' two free throws knotted the score at 79-apiece five seconds later before Murray scored the game-winner.