Toledo men’s basketball defeated UMass 77-67 in the semifinal round of the MAC tournament on Friday night, advancing to the MAC Championship game
“From the start to finish, we played exceptionally hard and really guarded,” said Toledo head coach Tod Kowalczyk. “We rebounded and didn’t turn it over for the most part…so proud of our effort.”
The rebounding and defense helped set up Toledo’s offense for success throughout the contest.
The Rockets shot better in all three facets of the game compared to the Minutemen. In terms of overall shooting, Toledo shot 57.4% while UMass was much lower at 41.2%. 3-point shooting involved an eerily similar percentage differential. Toledo hit 35% of their 3-pointers compared to UMass’ 19% from downtown.
Free throws were troublesome for both sides, as Toledo shot 8-for-14 (57.1%) and UMass was 11-for-21 (52.3%). Despite the low free throw percentage, the Rockets still managed to best the Minutemen in the three main shooting categories.
Toledo dished the ball to teammates at over double UMass’ rate, with the Rockets tallying 21 assists to UMass’ nine.
“We had 21 assists, our goal is to have 20,” said Kowalczyk. “We had 12 turnovers, but if we just clean up some of those… I think it would have been a near-perfect game for us.”
For Toledo, junior guard Sonny Wilson was the catalyst for the efficiency on the offensive end. Wilson shot 8-for-9 from the field and made one of his two 3-point attempts. Wilson’s 18 points led the Rockets and were second in the game to UMass’ graduate forward Leonardo Bettiol’s 21 points. Bettiol shot 8-for-12 (66.6%) in the semifinal matchup.
Wilson had three other teammates score in double figures. Freshman guard Leroy Blyden Jr. had 12 points, senior forward Sean Craig tallied 15 points, and sophomore guard Mynor Strong added 17 to the team’s total. The four lead players combined for 62 points on the night.
Toledo moves on to the championship round to face the winner of the Kent State vs Akron game in the MAC Championship Game at 8 p.m. on Saturday. Tune into Falcon Radio to hear Tyler Kavalecz, Foster Roesti, and Artie Abrego for the broadcast on bgfalconmedia.com.
