Ohio (10-8 overall, 4-2 Mid-American Conference) had a stellar first half shooting the ball, but an ugly second half helped Toledo (10-7 overall, 4-1 MAC) come back and hand the Bobcats their second conference loss in Tuesday night’s 101-85 road contest.
Ohio went on the road to play Toledo, attempting to push its current win streak to six games. The starting unit for the Bobcats started hot, and they powered through the guards in the opening minutes, as senior Ajay Sheldon had a 3-pointer and a steal, and senior Jackson Paveletzke had four quick points in the paint to put Ohio up 7-4.
The Rockets played through forward Austin Parks, but his early efforts could not cool off the Bobcats, who were firing on all cylinders on the offensive end. Sheldon found senior forward Aidan Hadaway for a 3-pointer before Sheldon hit another one of his own in transition. The Ohio run was capped off on a physical layup from redshirt junior Javan Simmons in his return to Toledo as Ohio jumped out front with a 17-7 advantage.
Simmons was not done there. Out of the first media timeout, he scrambled for a loose ball and worked himself inside for a ferocious slam, which he followed with a fallaway two-point shot just a couple of possessions later to keep the Ohio lead steady at 24-14.
In the first eight minutes of play, Ohio had been incredibly efficient making 11 of its first 14 field goal attempts, and even on a rare first half miss by Paveletzke, senior forward Jalen Breath collected the offensive rebound and made the most of the possession for Ohio with a second chance bucket down low to keep Ohio out front by eight, 31-23.
Toledo kept rallying, and leading the charge was guard Sonny Wilson, who hit a step-through jumper. Ohio responded by going back down low and putting the ball in the hands of Simmons, who hit another tough layup. The Rockets responded again as Wilson found a wide-open cutter under the basket to cut the Bobcats' lead to five, 34-29.
After a slow start, Toledo was cutting into the lead, but Ohio held a three-point edge with just under four minutes to play in the first half. Simmons and Wilson were both assessed technical fouls after a confrontation heading into the final media timeout.
The Rockets tied the game at 40, and both offenses continued to roll. Paveletzke hit a jumper, followed by a 3-pointer from Hadaway and then a tear-drop floater from Simmons to put Ohio back up 47-44.
Toledo went on an 8-0 run that included an inbound steal and layup, as well as a transition 3-pointer from Leroy Blyden Jr., who had 17 first-half points. Paveletzke answered for the Bobcats at the buzzer with a fadeaway 3-pointer, and Ohio went into the locker room trailing 52-50.
The Rockets looked like the more refreshed team out of the tunnel. They were running by the Bobcats in the opening two minutes and grabbed the first two buckets off of Ohio misses to go up 56-50, prompting a timeout by Ohio head coach Jeff Boals.
Ohio freshman guard JJ Kelly got the team on the board, but Toledo immediately responded with a three-point basket. The Rockets caught fire to start the second half, starting five and six and adding two more three-point baskets to push their lead up to double digits, as Ohio trailed 65-54.
After the strong shooting first half, the road team went ice cold in the second half, starting three of 12 from the floor. The Rockets kept producing on their end, pushing the lead to 17, 77-60.
Despite the large deficit, Ohio continued to fight, relying on Paveletzke and Simmons to score the ball throughout the second period, and they would combine to go for 41 points on the night, but it would not be enough to stop the Rockets. They began to wear down the Bobcats' defense and drain the final eight minutes of game time off the clock.
After shooting over 60% from the field in the first half, Ohio did not even cross the 40% threshold in the second period, which resulted in Toledo being able to pull away and close out the 101-85 loss for the Bobcats.
