Toledo men survive in 73-65 shootout with Arkansas State

Nothing came easy for the University of Toledo men’s basketball team in a 73-65 victory Saturday night over Arkansas State.

The Redwolves (2-4) simply gave the Rockets all they could handle.

Arkansas State led for over 20 minutes in the contest, which remained close until the final buzzer. The Redwolves pulled ahead of Toledo (5-4) quickly, leading 10-6 with 15:49 left until halftime.

ASU held onto the advantage and limited the Rockets to a 36.7 field goal percentage throughout the first half. The Redwolves headed into the locker room with a 55.2 FG percentage and with junior guard Cameron Golden already in double-digit scoring figures.

Golden finished the night with a game-high 18 points.

“It was a little bit on us,” said Toledo senior guard Juice Brown. “We missed a couple assignments, and [Golden], we let him get going a little bit in the first half.”

Arizona State junior guard Sean Gardner picked off a UT pass and took the ball to the basket for an unimpeded one-handed dunk with 8:48 left before halftime to keep the home crowd virtually silent.

The Redwolves later had a second big score off a turnover stifled at the last minute by UT senior forward J.D. Weatherspoon, but the Rockets still trailed ASU 32-22 with 5:48 to play in the half.

“I want to watch the film before I make any judgments, but I’m not so sure it wasn’t more them than it was us in the first half,” said UT head coach Tod Kowalczyk. “I thought they made some shots. We did have some communication errors that they made us pay for, went underneath a couple screens that we probably should have trailed.

“Any mistake we made they made a shot, and again I want to watch the film, but my staff wasn’t real happy at halftime and to be honest with you I think it was more [Arkansas State].”

Toledo fought back into the game with an 11-0 run during the final minutes of the half, cutting the Redwolves lead to a slim 42-37 advantage.

“It felt good,” said UT junior guard Justin Drummond. “It helped us get our mojo back. We just needed that spark. That group before halftime gave it to us. It was a game of runs, luckily we got ours at the end of the first half and that propelled us to that second-half momentum.”

UT drew within a point of Arkansas State with a 6-0 run early in the second half. The Redwolves earned a small amount of breathing room, but a jumper from junior center Nathan Boothe gave the Rockets a 52-51 lead with 13:27 to play.

After taking the lead, Toledo went on another 11-0 run that forced an Arkansas State timeout with 11:41 left on the clock. The Redwolves drew even, but UT sophomore guard Jon Jon Williams sank a trey to put the Rockets back on top with a 61-58 lead.

ASU drew even one last time, but Juice responded with a pair of treys to ice Toledo’s fifth victory of the season. UT’s point guard finished with a team-high 15 points, leading a Rockets’ starting five that all finished with double-digit scoring figures.

“I just liked what I saw,” Juice said of the first of his final two treys. “I was pretty much open, so I just took the shot. I was wide open. I thought they were going to play the handoff, but they just played away from me. I just stepped in and took the three.”

With the victory, Toledo now sports a winning record for the first time since improving to 1-0 after the season opener.

“It means a lot,” Drummond said. “It’s like getting our heads back above water. We had a tough start to the season, but we’re building. We’re a new team pretty much and we’ve got to find our stride.

“I think we’re finding it right now, we just got to stay hungry and stay humble, keep working.”

The Rockets conclude their three-game home stand by hosting Robert Morris next Wednesday, Dec. 17. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.