How Toledo slowed down CMU to clinch share of MAC West title
Toledo huddles together following a foul on its route to a 80-68 victory over Central Michigan on March 2 at McGuirk Arena.
The final horn sounds and McGuirk Arena isn't cheering as it did for 12 of the games played there in the 2018-19 season.
Some of the crowd already filed out early from a relatively full stadium, despite it being spring break. There is just background noise from the conversations happening as the teams leave the floor.
Moments before this, however, there was cheering. But again, it wasn't the familiar roar. It came from a smaller fan section of Toledo fans that traveled 183 miles to support the Rockets.
The team rewarded those who made the journey with an 80-68 road victory over Central Michigan, while also clinching a share of the Mid-American Conference West Division regular season title.
In the midst of families and friends spreading out on the floor to talk with players from both teams, stood Rockets coach Tod Kowalczyk. He's hunched over a table, gripping a stat sheet and beaming down on it with a look of complete satisfaction. When his radio interview was over, he turned to a pair reporters waiting to ask him more questions.
His team once led the contest it was ultimately victorious in by 16 points only to see its lead trimmed down to one point in the second half by a Chippewa group he noted would "play well in Cleveland."
When asked about what his team did to outlast a CMU run that was pouring emotion, he scratched his forehead and replied with a voice of relief.
"Well, (Larry) Austin and (Shawn) Roundtree aren't good in transition, they are special in transition," Kowalczyk quipped. "We started to finally get in front of them and play strong.
"That's what you have to do to win in games like this."
At the end of the day, Toledo proved to outlast its opponent in a battle of two heavyweights in the MAC West. When CMU erupted on a 9-0 run to make the score 48-47 at the 12:51 mark, it seemed nothing could go wrong because it was what CMU has done to its opponents as of late.
The Chippewas smother you on defense and force turnovers with aggressive play, making the opposing team suddenly forget what it has done right all game to build its large lead. That 9-0 run forced a Kowalczyk timeout and the noise mounted in McGuirk as Austin exploded with energy from the layup he made to cap it off.
Larry Austin Jr. celebrates following a layup in Central Michigan's 80-68 loss to Toledo on March 2 in McGuirk Arena.
It seemed like the game script CMU followed in its previous two come-from-behind victories — horrific shooting percentage in the first half, mounting an epic run nearing the midway point of the second half and then riding that momentum to a win.
The first two boxes the Chippewas (20-9, 9-7 MAC) checked off by going 1-of-10 from beyond the arc in the opening half and then going 5-of-7 from deep to help mount a comeback in the second half.
However, on this day, Toledo owned the final box. It shut down CMU by having an answer for every attack the Chippewas threw its way from that moment forward. The Rockets riddled off a quick two-minute, 10-0 run capped off by senior guard and leader Jaelan Sanford's triple. It was 63-53 with seven minutes to go, and CMU was running out of time for error.
The two teams would trade baskets for a moment until Sanford came off a ball screen to the top of the key. He stepped back and buried another 3-pointer from nearly mid-court. It gave Toledo a 71-59 advantage with just 4:17 to play.
“That three was a dagger,” Austin later said.
The Rockets (23-6, 11-5 MAC) coasted to a victory from there and every bucket got a louder cheer from its bench. It was the ultimate ending to a season where they led the MAC West for nearly its entirety. Toledo had just beat the team riding a four-game winning streak with intentions of getting even with them atop the MAC West.
Toledo's bench celebrates 80-68 victory over Central Michigan on March 2 in McGuirk Arena.
On the other bench, pure frustration mounted. Roundtree and Austin, who combined for 42 points on its Senior Day, were checked out of the game in the final minutes for reserves. A sign of surrender to its hopes of accomplishing the MAC West champion dreams.
When the game ended, CMU scurried off the floor following the postgame handshakes with Toledo. Disappointed and confused looks on a majority of their faces.
In the press conference following the game, Roundtree and Austin were the players taking questions. When asked about how frustrating it was to have Toledo repel all of the ammunition CMU unloaded at them time and time again, Austin took a deep breath and calmly responded.
"(Toledo) didn't get rattled even when our crowd got into it and we made a run because they've been together for a while," Austin said. "They had to stay together and credit them because they did. I made mental lapses on the defensive end, I always talk about if we want to win games we have to play defense, at the end of the day I take a lot of that on me."
Austin also added that despite not having junior forward and starter Rob Montgomery, no excuses were made.
"At the end of the day it comes down to being tougher, today we needed more of that," Austin said.
When the players left the room and head coach Keno Davis came on for his opening statement, in which he starts every press conference, he fumbled to find words. He let out a soft laugh and gathered himself.
"I guess that's kinda like how the game went," he said.
His team lost a game which would've given the 11th year head coach a chance for at least a share of his first MAC West title since 2015-16. Instead, his team has to find a way to move on.
The Chippewas have two games remaining — a March 5 home date with Northern Illinois and then a road trip to rival Western Michigan on March 8. CMU still has a chance to earn a bye in the first round of the MAC Tournament. To do so, the Chippewas need to be a top-four seed.
Currently, CMU resides at the No. 4 spot holding the tiebreaker over Kent State.
Davis and the players made it clear, its onward and upward to the next games. They don't want to dwell on that Saturday evening where Toledo took away its MAC West title hopes.
Davis, however, wouldn't mind seeing the Rockets again, as long as its in the championship.
"When you see a quality team like Toledo, you want to see them at the end (of the season) when you know you will get a great team," he said.
Whether the two will face each other again is left up to fate. But what is written in stone is the Rockets won when they had to. With CMU pushing its pressure down on them throughout a second half run and nobody but themselves to relieve it, Toledo did so.
The end result — a guaranteed share of the MAC West title.
