Toledo grinds it out against UB

Rachel Nearhoof

Junior guard Jonathan Williams passes an Akron defender in the Rockets 78-64 victory over the Zips. Williams finished with 15 points and four assists on the day.

The University of Toledo men’s basketball team escaped with a 71-69 victory at Buffalo thanks to junior Johnathan Williams’ game-winning layup with 1.4 seconds left in the game.

Williams scored the final five points for the Rockets, a three from the corner to tie it at 69 all and the game winning layup.

Toledo (15-9, 6-5 MAC) moves into first place with their third-consecutive win and second road win.

UT was led by Williams with a team-high 15 points. Joining him in double figures were senior Nathan Boothe with his 12th double-double on the season, dropping 11 points and 11 rebounds on the night.

Sophomore Stuckey Mosley finished with 10 points to go along with a team-high five assist. Junior Zach Garber finished with 13 points and 7 rebounds and freshman Nate Navigato contributed 11 points off the bench.

After shooting a season-best 63.2 percent from three-point range against Kent State on Saturday, the Rockets struggled tremendously against Buffalo finishing the game at 23.1 percent from beyond the arch.

UT shot 37 percent from the field as a team but won the game on the line draining 19 of 23 free throws on the night. UB took just nine free throws on the entire night.

The Bulls (14-10, 7-4 MAC) was led by Nick Perkins with a game-high 17 points. Blake Hamilton was also a force for Buffalo with 10 points and 8 assists on the night. Joining the two in double-figures are CJ Massinburg and Jarryn Skeete with 12 and 10 points respectfully.

Boothe started off the scoring with a three from the top of the key. Both teams traded baskets over the next ten minutes and Toledo trailed 12-11 after a Mosley layup at the 10:11 mark.

The Rockets regained the lead and had a 24-23 point advantage with 4 minutes left in the opening half.

Buffalo went on a 12-2 run hitting five straight shots and jumped out to their largest lead of the half 35-26 with a little over a minute remaining.

Boothe ended the run with a jumper from the corner but Buffalo finished the half with a layup from Hamilton and took a 37-28 advantage into the locker room.

Buffalo’s momentum continued in the second half and the Bulls extended their lead to 43-32 in the minutes of the second stanza.

A Boothe layup and Sanford three cut into the Bulls lead at 43-37 with 16:08 remaining in the game.

Buffalo continued to lead by double-figures with a 51-41 lead with under 13 minutes left in the half. Garber got fouled on layup and hit his free throw to convert the and-1 opportunity and cut the lead to 7 for the first time in the second half.

Buffalo was able to hold an eight-point lead over the next several minutes until Williams knocked down a three from the corner to cut the Bulls lead to 64-59 with 5:25 left.

The Bulls were able to extend their lead with Perkin’s third three-pointer on the night giving UB a 67-59 lead with 3:35 left in the game.

After a pair of free throws Navagato drained a three from the corner to cut Buffalo’s lead to 66-67 on the tail end of a 7-0 UT run.

With a chance to take the lead UT junior Jordan Lauf turned it over to Buffalo who converted a layup to go up by 3 with just under 2 minutes to go.

After a Toledo timeout Williams knocked down a corner to tie the game at 69-69 with :39 seconds to go.

Massinburg had a chance to take the lead for Buffalo but his shot bounced short off the iron and into the hands of Boothe.

He outlet the ball to Williams and with the time expiring, Williams drove through traffic to the basket and laid the ball up with 1.4 seconds remaining for the UT win.

The Rockets will look to continue their three-game winning streak when they Host Miami on Saturday at 7 p.m. in Savage Arena. The game can be viewed on BCSN or ESPN3.