OHIO 74, BUFFALO 53
TOLEDO, Ohio – Toledo's backcourt combined for 58 points to lift the Rockets to their eighth-straight win, an 84-76 triumph over third-place Akron (13-6, 6-3 MAC) on Friday night at Savage Arena. The victory kept the Rockets (17-4 ,9-1 MAC) in first place in the Mid-American Conference, one game in front of second-place Ohio (16-3, 7-1 MAC).
Sophomore Ryan Rollins paced Toledo offensively with 21 points, including 17 in the final 11 minutes. Redshirt freshman Ra'heim Moss tallied a season-high 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting and also dished out a team-high six assists. Junior RayJ Dennis scored 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting and collected four assists.
Junior Bryan Trimble Jr. led the Zips in scoring with 18 points, with sophomore Enrique Freeman notching a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Toledo shot 58.9 percent from the field, marking the third game in a row the Rockets have made over half of their shots. Akron posted a 43.8 shooting mark but was limited to a 28.0 three-point FG% (7-of-28). The Rockets also held an edge at the charity stripe, making 13-of-17 free throws compared to the Zips' 13-of-23 totals.
Toledo held a 46-37 halftime advantage after making 11 of its 12 shots in the opening stanza. The Rockets then opened the second half with a 7-0 spurt and led by as many as 19 points. The Zips rallied to within four points (72-68) with 5:12 remaining, but Rollins scored seven straight points to push Toledo's lead back to 80-71 for some much-needed breathing room.
BUFFALO, NY -- Visiting Ohio (16-3, 7-1 MAC) held Buffalo to a season low 53 points Friday while posting a 74-53 victory at Alumni Arena.
It was the Bobcats 11th win over their last 11 outings, with the only loss in that stretch coming to MAC leader Toledo one week earlier. Buffalo (10-8, 4-4 MAC) fell to that same Rocket squad Tuesday to break a four-game UB win skein.
Mark Sears led all scorers Friday with 27 points, sinking 9 of 18 shots from the field overall and 7 of 8 at the line. Jason Carter tallied 16 with nine boards, followed by Ben Vander Plas (12 points, 11 rebounds) and Miles Brown (11 points).
Jeenathan Williams topped Buffalo in points (13) and rebounds (7). David Skogman added 11 points, while Ronaldo Segu chipped in nine points.
With the game tied at 9-9, Ohio ran off eight straight points. Bu intermission, the Bobcats were up 37-20. A.J. Clayton's triple at 11:09 put Ohio up 61-38 and the visitors coasted in from there.