Rockets let Western slip between cracks

Rachel Nearhoof / IC

Nick Rogers, freshman guard, drives to the basket in Toledo's 76-74 loss to the Central Michigan Chippewas.

KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Turnovers and foul trouble plagued the Toledo men’s basketball team in its 70-64 road loss at Western Michigan on the Broncos’ senior night. The Rockets committed a season-high 23 turnovers in the six-point loss.

With the loss, Friday’s matchup at home against Eastern Michigan will determine the last seed for a home game in the first round of the Mid-American Conference.

“Tonight was disappointing all-around,” said head coach Todd Kowalczyk. “It was disappointing that Nate [Boothe] let himself get into foul trouble, it was disappointing the way Stuckey was careless with the ball at times. You expect better at this point in the season.”

The Rockets (17-13, 8-9 MAC) were led by junior Jonathan Williams with 21 points although he went 0-for-5 from beyond the arch.

Joining him in double-figures was senior Nathan Boothe with 19 points and 9 rebounds before fouling out with 9.6 seconds left in the game. Freshman Nate Navigato had another solid performance off the bench with 11 points and 4 boards in 32 minutes of work.

The Rockets shot the ball well from the field at 46.2 percent, but struggled with Western’s perimeter defense and was held to just 23.8 percent shooting from three-point land.

Boothe was one of three Rockets who found themselves in foul trouble. By the 11:55 mark in the second half, Boothe, freshman Jaylan Sanford and junior Zack Garber all had four fouls.

“We lost our composure when Boothe went to the bench,” said Williams. “We need him on the court as much as possible and with him not there, it hurt us.”

It was a physical game — the Rockets finished the contest with 25 personal fouls and a busted lip by Navigato.

WMU sophomore Thomas Wilder gave the Rockets problems all night, coming up with five steals to go along with a tied team-high 18 points.

Wilder was one of four Broncos in double figures. Joining him was junior Tucker Haymond, senior Taylor Perry and freshman Seth Dugan with 18, 15 and 10 points, respectively.

The Broncos (12-18, 6-11 MAC) finished the game with a worse field goal percentage than the Rockets but shot 10 more free throws, which led to the outcome.

Boothe got things going early for UT, scoring seven of UT’s first eight points to tie things up at eight with 15:06 in the opening stanza.

Toledo jumped out to its largest lead of the half thanks to Williams and sophomore guard Stuckey Mosley’s combining for 10 points over a four-minute stretch to give UT a 23-16 lead with 7:15 left in the half.

Haymond tied things up with a layup for the Broncos at 25 with 3:46 left in the half. WMU took a brief one-point lead before back-to-back layups by Boothe and Williams to give Toledo a three-point lead with just over two minutes in the half.

The Rockets took a 33-28 lead into the locker room.

Sanford came out of the gates gunning in the second half with back-to-back treys to give UT a 39-30 lead in the opening minutes.

With 16:48 to go Boothe was called for his third foul. After a Wilder layup, Navigato knocked down a three in the corner with a hand in his face to give UT its largest lead of the night at 44-33 with over 15 minutes left to play.

Minutes later, Boothe picked up his fourth foul in what Kowalczyk considered a “soft foul,” forcing him to sit until the 10:12 mark.

After that, the momentum swung to the home side and the Broncos went on a 9-0 run to cut the Rocket lead to 47-46 with just under 10 to play.

The Broncos continued to keep the pressure up and took their first lead of the half after a turnover by sophomore Stuckey Mosley with just under six minutes left on the clock.

Mosley accounted for six turnovers on the night and had three in the final seven minutes during crunch time.

Down four with 28 seconds left, Williams took it strong to the basket and got fouled on the play. He converted the free throw to complete the three-point play, cutting the Bronco’s lead to 65-64.

The Rockets couldn’t pull any closer in the closing minutes. Garber and Boothe eventually fouled out with 19.5 and 9.6 seconds, respectfully.

The Rockets return to Savage Arena on Friday to host Eastern Michigan in the last game of the season before the MAC Tournament on March 7. Toledo will honor its spring seniors during Friday’s game. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.