Toledo men defeat Eastern Michigan 59-44 in MAC Semifinals

CLEVELAND, OH - During the University of Toledo’s 59-44 victory over Eastern Michigan Friday night in Quicken Loans Arena, Eagle’s senior forward Glenn Bryant needed almost the entire game to rack up a double digit-scoring total.

UT senior guard Rian Pearson needed less than fifteen minutes.

“I wasn’t going to take a loss today,” Pearson said. “I was going to will my team to victory and keep playing hard.”

Pearson finished the Rockets’ Mid-American Conference semifinal matchup against EMU with a game-high 18 points -one point more than the total he racked up in Toledo’s regular season finale against this very same Eagle’s squad.

“I’m used to their zone -I’ve been playing in it for a couple years now,” he said. “It is all about getting in the gaps and keeping myself moving. Coach allows me to do what I do verse their zone.

“I think it was the same game [as] our last home game. We knew what to expect, we had great scouting coming into the game and great focus.”

Bryant finished with 11 points as the only EMU player to crack double digits.

It took the rest of the Rockets a little longer than it took Pearson to remember that they had beaten this same team 77-66 inside Savage Arena less than a week ago.

At halftime, Pearson had put up almost half of Toledo’s points. Junior guard Juice Brown -usually one of UT’s deadliest offensive weapons- had yet to score, and he would not break that drought until the 6:06 mark in the second half when he sank a trey to bring the Rockets up 48-40.

“Juice is such a confident guy and you knew he had a big play in him,” said Toledo head coach Tod Kowalczyk. “I was just very pleased in how he defended tonight and how he rebounded tonight.”

Juice only managed to add two more points during the rest of the game, leaving junior guard Justin Drummond and sophomore center Nathan Boothe with the responsibility of backing Pearson up offensively.

Boothe finished with 13 points, and Drummond finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double.

“I’m just really proud of our effort tonight,” Kowalczyk said. “I thought from start to finish we really guarded exceptionally well. Rian Pearson’s energy that first half was tremendous, [as was] Drummond’s leadership and his communication. Juice Brown obviously offensively did not have a typical Juice Brown game, but his point of contact defensively really was impressive tonight.”

Pearson not only scored the majority of Toledo’s points against EMU ­-he also scored Toledo’s first points of the night.

The senior guard sank a trey from the corner with 17:10 left in the first half to tie the game up 3-3.

Boothe then gave UT their first lead of the night, a 9-8 advantage, but Eagle’s junior forward Karrington Ward quickly responded with a bucket that allowed EMU to briefly take control of the game.

Toledo regained the lead after senior forward Matt Smith sank a three of his own to put the Rockets up 18-15 with 9:04 left in the half.

Smith added to the lead he created by putting two more points up from underneath the rim, and Pearson sank a jumper to give Toledo even more of a cushion on an advantage they would not relinquish again the rest of the night.

“We made big plays against the best defensive team in our league,” Kowalczyk said. “That zone [defense] is so good, and we made big plays when we had to.”

Toledo now looks ahead to Saturday night, when they will face the Western Michigan Broncos in the championship game of the MAC Tournament. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. inside Quicken Loans Arena.