Rockets Hold off Oakland's 2nd Half Rally

The Toledo Rockets let an 18 point lead in the 2nd half slip away, but held on for a 71-69 victory over Oakland. The win was just the third of the season for the Rockets, but is a solid victory over a team that had defeated a Top 25 team in their last game.

The Rockets (3-9) continue to show that they miss having a true point guard in the lineup, but the ball was in the hands of the right guy at the end.

Toledo welcomed the Oakland Golden Grizzlies (6-6) from the Summit Conference to Savage Hall and sent them home with a nice comeback, but a 71-69 loss as well.

Oakland was coming into this game after defeating #23 ranked Oregon Ducks 68-62.

Toledo started off hot and never trailed in the game after jumping to a 9-0 lead. Oakland’s coach must have said something good in the timeout, as the Grizzlies quickly erased that 9-0 lead with 11-4 run with their first basket over three minutes into the game.

Junior Tyrone Kent led the way for the Rockets making 9 of 13 shots for 22 points. Kent climaxed a 14-2 first half run with a huge dunk with 8:19 left.

For the first time since the season opener, the Rockets went into the half strong leading by 17 points, capped off by Ridley Johnson’s steal and dunk with 1.8 seconds left until halftime. Ridley finished with 14 points.

The second half started off pretty slow until Ty Kent got in foul trouble and had to go to the bench 10:50 left in regulation. This was when not having a point guard really showed. Oakland guard Johnathon Jones turned it up a notch and shot 12 of 14 from the field for 29 points, which led all players.

The Grizzlies had all of the momentum on their side and came roaring back. The momentum was slowed by a huge dunk by walk-on freshman Anthony Byrd with 2:29 left, but it was not enough to stop the impressive full court press from the Golden Grizzlies.

For the first time since the opening tip, Oakland tied the game up at 67-67 with 1:01 to play.

Tyrone Kent came back off the bench to show that he is the Rockets true leader, by banking two jumpers off the glass while driving in traffic. Kent scored the Rockets final four points and Jonathan Amos did what he does best and stole the ball with one second left to seal the game.

Senior Jerrah Young had a big day with a double-double. Young had 11 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out.

Official attendance for the game was 3,491, which is still low but will hopefully rise, as they will have more games at home where they dominate.

Conference play starts Sunday January 6th when the Rockets host Ball St (0-11).