YPSILANTI, Mich. — A deficit that once sat at 20 points was gone.
With fewer than two minutes to go, the University of Toledo men’s basketball team found itself in a tie game, a once-perilous situation neutralized and Cleveland well within the Rockets’ sights.
And then the same problem that put UT in that predicament in the first place ended their Mid-American Conference tournament for good.
No. 8 Eastern Michigan’s vaunted 2-3 zone forced ninth-seeded Toledo into three consecutive turnovers in a 61-second span late in the game. The Eagles converted Toledo’s giveaways into six critical points, the ultimate difference in UT’s 69-60 first-round defeat Monday at the EMU Convocation Center.