Kent State University
13-12 (5-7MAC)
Toledo
13-12 (6-6MAC)
Men's Basketball Falls on the Road at Toledo
2/11/2017 5:34:00 PM | Men's Basketball
TOLEDO, Ohio – The Kent State University men's basketball team (13-12, 5-7 MAC) took its first road loss in almost a month, falling to the Toledo Rockets (13-12, 6-6 MAC) Saturday, 78-58.
"When we defend at a high level and rebound at a high level, we are a pretty good team," said head coach Rob Senderoff. "When we don't, like tonight, we are not a good team. Give Toledo credit for coming out with a lot of energy, but we can't do anything but look at ourselves and say, we don't guard and we're not moving the basketball and playing for each other. When we don't do that, we really struggle."
Jaylin Walker led the Flashes in scoring with 13 points off the bench. Jimmy Hall registered 10 points and had a team-best five rebounds. Deon Edwin finished one short of his career-high in assists with five, and contributed six points.
The Golden Flashes were forced to weather the storm in the first half, as Toledo had the hot hand for the first 20 minutes. The Rockets took over half of their shots from 3-point range, and shot 15-for-19 from the floor. Kent State jumped out to its only lead of the first half early at 5-2. Toledo answered with a 3-pointer and eventually jumped out to a 30-20 advantage with 7:19 to go in the half.
Toledo's offense hit one short snag in period, going without a point for nearly three minutes. Kent State went on a 10-4 run to cut the deficit to four points. However, Toledo made the rest of its shots before halftime, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to reestablish a double-digit lead.
The Rockets caught Kent State in a shooting slump early in the second half and capitalized with an 8-0 run. The streak put the Flashes in a 52-36 hole with 16:45 left. Three unanswered buckets allowed the Flashes to get the deficit back down to 10 points, but it was the closest they would come. The Rockets scored 13 of the next 18 points to reassert themselves. Toledo led by as much at 22 points at 75-53 with 3:27 remaining and cruised to victory.
When the two teams played in the M.A.C. Center, Kent State gave Toledo its best performance. On Saturday, Toledo did the same, shooting a season-best 65.2 percent (30-for-46) with eight 3-pointers. Kent State shot 40.7 percent (24-for-59) from the floor and 23.8 percent (5-for-21) from distance. The high shooting mark for Toledo kept the Flashes' rebounding total low, but Kent State registered 13 of 25 boards on offense. Kent State won the turnover margin, 12-15.
Adonis De La Rosa had a strong effort, scoring nine points on 4-for-8 shooting with four rebounds. Jalen Avery finished the game with five points and four assists. Mitch Peterson scored six points while Kevin Zabo scored five.
The Flashes will return home for a Valentine's Day game against Miami at 7 p.m.
