Hot-shooting Tyrone Kent fired the Toledo Rockets into an early 10-point lead and the Missouri State Bears’ valiant attempt to catch up in the second half fell just short as host Toledo took away a 57-53 victory in the 2007-08 basketball season opener for both teams Saturday night in Toledo. Toledo won its home opener for the 15th year in a row.
Down 14 points at halftime at 37-23, the Bears picked up the pace in the rebounding department and found an effective zone defense to climb back into the contest after intermission. A basket by Dale Lamberth got Missouri State back to within seven at 43-36 with 11:34 left, and Lamberth hit a three at the 6:57 mark to slice the gap to 45-43. Toledo pushed its edge back to seven at 52-45 on a three and two free throws by Corey Bingham.
Lamberth scored again, Deven Mitchell added a pair of free throws and Drew Richards powered in a bucket to pull Missouri State within a point at 52-51 with 2:12 left. Kent scored for Toledo but Richards dropped in another goal to make it 54-53 with eight seconds left. A quick Missouri State foul sent Jerrah Young to the line where he hit one of two tries but the Bears misfired on an attempt to pull even in the closing seconds.
Kent, a 6-foot-5 junior guard, hit eight of his team’s first 14 points as the Rockets went up 14-4 five minutes into the contest. Missouri State turnovers and Toledo’s hot shooting extended the Rockets’ margin to 14 by halftime, at which point Kent had a career-high 21 points on 9-of-13 firing.
The Bears settled down defensively and on the boards after intermission. Toledo shot .615 (16/26) from the field in the first half but just .286 (6/21) after intermission, and the Bears outrebounded the Rockets by 14 in the second half and 39-27 for the contest. Missouri State finished at .411 (23/56) from the field, but hit just 3-of-19 from three-point range.
Richards led Missouri State with 16 points as he was perfect on eight field goal tries. Lamberth had his second career double-double for the Bears with 10 points and 11 rebounds, and Mitchell finished with 10 points and seven boards. Kent was Toledo’s only double-figure scorer with 27 points.
The Bears return home Sunday to host the 21st annual Price Cutter Classic next weekend in Hammons Student Center. The Bears meet Harding Friday (Nov. 16) at 8:05 p.m. in the home opener and then host UNC-Greensboro Saturday at 8:05 p.m.
