Wednesday, December 8
Fort Wayne, Ind.
6:00 p.m.
Purdue Fort Wayne
78
vs
65
Toledo
Zach Plackemeier had a career-high five 3-pointers vs. Toledo
Mastodons Win Fifth Straight, Top Toledo 78-65
12/8/2010 8:42:32 PM | Men's Basketball
Box Score | Photo Gallery
Fort Wayne, IN - The IPFW men's basketball team used deadly 3-point shooting and strong second half defense to down the Toledo Rockets, 78-65 on Wednesday night at the Memorial Coliseum.
IPFW hit 10 first half triples and then held the Rockets to just nine second half baskets in cruising to their fifth straight win, a first for the IPFW program in the D-I era.
Senior guard Zach Plackemeier opened the game with a triple and the 'Dons never stopped hitting them. The Mastodons held an 11-point advantage on three occasions in the opening stanza, but the Rockets (0-9) went on a 14-7 run to close the half and trailed only by the score of 38-34.
UT sophomore guard Malcolm Griffin and freshman guard Reese Holliday kept the Rockets close early in the second half with a couple of baskets, but IPFW began to heat back up again.
Senior guard Ben Botts hit a mid-range jumper to make it 52-45 'Dons with 11:48 left. Then after another triple by Plackememier and a hoop inside by senior forward Oleg Kovalov the Mastodons had pushed their lead back to 14 points.
The Mastodons would hit their foul shots down the stretch to seal the 13-point victory.
Botts led all scorers with a career-high tying 22 points. Plackemeier added 21 including a career-high five 3-pointers. Junior forward Trey McCorkle led IPFW in rebounding with 10 boards.
Holliday was the top scorer for the Rockets with 17 points.
The Mastodons shot 49.1% from the floor (27-55) and 40.7% from behind the arc (11-27). Toledo, who hit 54.4% in the first half, finished the game at 46.7% (21-45).
IPFW played a swarming defense causing 19 Toledo turnovers while giving the ball away only nine times.
With the win, the Mastodons improve to 6-2, their best record to begin the season in the D-I era. The win was also the first for head coach Dane Fife over a school from the Mid-American Conference and the 'Dons first win over a MAC team since IPFW's 81-75 win over Bowling Green at the Coliseum on December 10, 2003.
IPFW returns to action on Saturday afternoon, hosting UT Martin at 1:00 p.m.
~Dons~
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