Rockets Defeat Missouri State

The University of Toledo men's basketball team won their 15th consecutive home opener with a 57-53 victory over Missouri State. The Lady Rockets won their opener as well, a 87-75 victory over IPFW.

Last night was the Tyrone Kent show at the University of Toledo's Savage Hall. Kent led all scorers with 27 points as the Rockets won their home opener for the 15th straight season with a 57-53 victory over Missouri State.

Kent scored 21 of Toledo's 37 first half points, as the Rockets opened up a 37-21 halftime lead on the visiting Bears of Missouri State. But in the 2nd half the Rockets went cold as Missouri State settled into a 2-3 zone defense and forced Toledo to shoot more from the outside.

Missouri State pulled within one point at 54-53 with 8 seconds left, but a free throw and then a Jonathon Amos steal and two Amos free throws sealed the deal for the Rockets.

Toledo continued its tradition of solid defense and causing turnovers. The Rockets had 11 steals, 5 blocked shots, and forced 23 turnovers, while scoring 22 points off of those turnovers.

Ty Kent led the way with a career high 27 points to go along with 3 steals and 3 rebounds. "Tyrone’s like a wide receiver playing quarterback for us since we don’t have the two point guards we were planning on," said Coach Stan Joplin.

Jonathon Amos only scored 6 points, but he had a career high 6 steals, including one in the final seconds to seal the deal.

Freshman center Justin Anyijong had a very nice start to his collegiate career with 6 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocked shots, 2 assists, and 1 steal. Another freshman, guard Corey Bingham, scored 5 points for the Rockets.

Toledo is now 47-5 at home since the start of the 2003-04 season. They are also 44-4 at home against non-conference opponents since Stan Joplin became the head coach. Toledo will host Vanderbilt on Tuesday night at 7:00pm. Vanderbilt, a member of the SEC, made it to the Sweet 16 in last year's NCAA Tournament.


Lady Rockets Defeat IPFW

The Lady Rockets defeated IPFW 87-75 behind Allie Clifton's career high of 22 points and 11 rebounds. Tamesha Scotton added 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Lady Rockets. Freshman Jessica Williams also scored 13 points, while Amber Heistan had 11 points and Ta'Yani Clark had 10 points and 9 rebounds.

The Lady Rockets next play in the Seton Hall Basketball Classic on Friday, November 16th and Saturday, November 17th. They will face San Diego on Friday and depending on the outcome of that game they will face either Seton Hall or George Mason on Saturday.