MUNCIE, Ind. – Red-hot three-point shooting for a second-straight game propelled Toledo to a 63-55 road triumph over Ball State on Wednesday evening. The victory came in a building the Rockets haven't had much success as it was only their fourth in 22 contests inside Worthen Arena.
More importantly, the victory put UT (12-14, 4-8 MAC) into a third-place tie in the West Division with the Cardinals (12-12, 4-8 MAC), who have now lost seven-straight games. Toledo, which will play three of its final four conference contests at home, trails first-place Eastern Michigan (11-15, 6-6 MAC) by two games and Western Michigan (11-15, 5-7 MAC) by one game.
Junior G Curtis Dennis came off the bench to spark the Rockets with a team-high 17 points, knocking down 4-of-6 treys. Junior G Dominique Buckley joined him as part of UT's three-point arsenal, hitting 3-of-4 threes en route to 11 points. Freshman G Julius Brown also was in double figures with 10 points and also dished out a game-high five assists.
Toledo posted a scorching 70.6 three-point field-goal percentage (12-of-17), marking the first time since Dec. 14, 2002 that UT has topped 70 percent from downtown. UT also had 12 three-pointers (in 19 attempts) in Saturday's loss at Bowling Green.
Toledo shot 52.8 percent overall for the game and held Ball State to a 30.8 FG%. The Cardinals were able to stay in the game primarily due to a 46-30 rebounding advantage that included 24 boards on the offensive glass.
"It was a complete team effort for us tonight," Toledo Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "We guarded well and limited a good offensive team to 30 percent shooting. We have a fun team to coach that's buying in and gaining confidence. We're getting better and that's what you want to happen at this time of year."
The Rockets held a 22-21 halftime lead and grabbed control of the contest midway through the second stanza when Dennis knocked down three straight bombs for a 39-31 lead with 12:19 remaining.
"I started feeling it after I hit my second one," Dennis said. "We spaced out a little more in the second half, and Reese (Holliday) did a good job of finding our shooters on the perimeter."
Buckley then got into the act by hitting back-to-back threes to give the Rockets their first double-digit advantage, 45-34, at the 9:34 mark.
UT was able to maintain control the rest of the way, and the closest the Cardinals came down the stretch was within five points on two occasions in the final two minutes.
Toledo will conclude its three-game road stretch with a trip to Huntsville, TX to face Sam Houston State. Tip-off time is set for 2:00 p.m. CT.
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2012 WorldNow and WTVG. All Rights Reserved.
