Toledo men notch 24th victory of the season with 96-85 OT win over Western Michigan

Many years from now, when University of Toledo head coach Tod Kowalczyk has had some time to reflect, he will more than likely make a mental list of the most memorable victories of his career.

Chances are, Toledo’s 96-85 overtime win over Western Michigan Saturday night at Savage Arena will be somewhere on that list.

“Right up there,” Kowalczyk said. “It is a great win, but like I told the players in the locker room, it means absolutely nothing if we don’t take care of business and play well on Tuesday [against Central Michigan].”

UT’s 24th win of the year -which ties the team with the school record for most wins in a single season- was a victory that the nearly 7000 fans in attendance Saturday evening almost didn’t get to witness.

That’s because Western Michigan dominated the home team for almost two full periods of basketball.

The Rockets one and only lead over the Broncos did not come until the last minute of play in the final half, when freshman guard Jonathan Williams went 2-for-2 at the free throw line to put Toledo up 77-75.

“That is why you never stop believing,” Kowalczyk said. “Let’s face it: we didn’t play very well for a big part of this game. I thought our confidence in the first half was not where it needed to be, I thought that affected our talk on defense, and how hard we played defensively.”

Western Michigan freshman guard Tucker Haymond went to the charity stripe several seconds after Toledo claimed the lead, and he went 2-for-2 to tie the two Mid-American Conference teams up with very little time left on the clock.

Toledo junior guard Julius Brown’s attempted game-winning three missed its mark, but Juice and his teammates opened the extra period with a five-point run to take command of a lead they would not relinquish again.

“We knew they were a great team,” Juice said. “But once we got into overtime we just felt like we got our mojo back and we were ready to go.”

Each member of Toledo’s starting five once again finished in double digit scoring totals to keep the Rockets undefeated at home this season. Junior guard Justin Drummond led the UT attack with a team-high 28 points and eight rebounds, and both Juice and Kowalczyk credited him with leading the team through their struggles during the game.

“[Justin] told us ‘make sure no one gives up tonight. Keep fighting to the end no matter what,'” Juice said. “That is what we did. We were just led by Justin tonight. He was a great leader out there and he just pulled the win out for us.”

Both Juice and Coach K also credited the exceptionally large crowd for giving the Rockets extra motivation Saturday night.

“We had a great crowd for this community,” Kowalczyk said. “They deserved to see us play our tails off, and we didn’t play our tails off until towards the end and it won us the game. This community needed more than what we gave them early in the game, they just did.”

WMU Senior guard David Brown, who scored a game-high 29 points, led the Broncos offensively, and he received help from senior center Shayne Whittington, who put up 25 points for Western Michigan.

“Obviously we couldn’t guard Brown in the first half at all,” Kowalczyk said. “I thought we had a hard time all night with Whittington, but a great win for our program nonetheless.

“We haven’t had a chance to play in very many big games. We’ve earned the right to play in big games now. We will learn from this experience and we will be better for the next game.”

This win puts Toledo in a three-way tie for the best record in the MAC (12-4), as the Rockets head into their final two games of the regular season. UT will hit the road to face Central Michigan on Tuesday, March 4, before returning home for the team’s season finale against Eastern Michigan on Saturday, March 8, at 2 p.m.