Rockets Roll to Fourth-Straight Victory with 87-74 Win Over Buffalo

TOLEDO, Ohio – Sophomore Javan Simmons tallied 18 points, 10 rebounds and six assists to lead the Toledo men’s basketball team to its fourth-straight victory, an 87-74 Mid-American Conference triumph over visiting Buffalo in Savage Arena on Tuesday.

The victory allowed the Rockets (14-8, 8-2 MAC) to keep pace with league-leading Akron (17-5, 10-0 MAC) and second-place Miami (17-5, 9-1 MAC). The Zips posted a 81-73 home win over Ball State, while the RedHawks edged Central Michigan on the road by a 76-70 margin.

Toledo outrebounded the Bulls (7-15, 2-8 MAC) by a 41-32 margin, grabbing 15 of its boards on the offensive glass. Simmons collected five of those en route to his second-straight double-double.

QUOTING HEAD COACH TOD KOWALCZYK

“We took care of business at home the last two games with wins over Northern Illinois and Buffalo. We knew they were going to take a lot of threes and we did a great job on Ryan Sabol, who is their best shooter and was 0-for-7 tonight from three. We moved the ball really well tonight and also did a good job on the boards.”

KEY PERFORMERS

• Sam Lewis: 19 points (5-10 FG, 4-7 3PT), 5 reb.
• Javan Simmons: 18 points (5-9 FG), 10 reb., 6 asst.
• Sonny Wilson: 18 points (7-14 FG, 2-3 3PT), 5 reb., 5 asst.
• Bryce Ford: 12 points (3-8 FG, 1-3 3PT), 4 reb., 2 stl.

TEAM STATS

• Toledo: 45.3% FG, 42.1% 3PTFG% (8-of-19), 75.0% FT (21-of-28), 41 reb., 19 asst., 9 TOs.
• Buffalo: 45.6% FG, 26.9% 3PTFG% (7-of-26), 71.4% FT (15-of-21), 32 reb., 10 asst., 12 TOs.

HOW IT HAPPENED 

FIRST HALF

• Sam Lewis scored seven points as the Rockets opened with an 11-2 lead at the 16:46 mark.
• After Buffalo cut the lead to five, the Rockets responded with another 11-2 run capped by ally-oop dunk by Jaylan Ouwinga from Sonny Wilson to extend the lead to 29-15 with 7:11 left in the half.
• Buffalo hit back-to-back threes to cut the lead to 36-29 at the 1:27 mark.
• Seth Hubbard delivered a layup right before the buzzer to give Toledo a 42-32 halftime lead.
• Toledo shot 48.5% (16-33) from the field while holding Buffalo to an 11-of-28 clip (39.3%).
• Lewis and Javan Simmons each had 10 points in the first half.

SECOND HALF

• Sonny Wilson scored nine points in the first seven minutes of the second half to help Toledo expand its lead to 58-40 with 13:13 to play.
• Buffalo cut it to 64-52 on a three-pointer and breakaway layup by Noah Batchelor with 8:27 to play.
• Toledo extended the lead to 17 on Lewis’ three-pointer at the 5:45 mark.
• Buffalo cut the lead to nine with a minute to go but never seriously threatened.  

ROCKET ROUNDUP

• Toledo has scored 84 or more points in each game of its four-game winning streak.
• The Rockets have out-rebounded their opponent by at least seven boards in each of their last four contests for an average of 10.0 rpg.
• Toledo has won its last eight meetings vs. Buffalo.
• Javan Simmons now has three double-doubles this season and five in his career. He has eight or more rebounds in nine of 10 MAC contests.
• Simmons also tied his career high with six assists.
• Sam Lewis has scored 13 or more points in 13 of his last 14 games.
• Bryce Ford has scored in double figures in four straight contests.

UP NEXT
The Rockets will conclude their three-game homestand with a MAC-Sun Belt Challenge matchup vs. defending Sun Belt Conference champion James Madison (14-9) on Saturday, Feb. 8.