Toledo moves into ‘Nassau Championship’ at Baha Mar

The University of Toledo Rockets are into the final of the ‘Nassau Championship’ at Baha Mar Hoops, going on this week on two basketball courts inside the Baha Mar Convention Center at Baha Mar.

The Rockets (4-1) squeezed past the Tulane University Green Wave (2-3), 68-67, on Tuesday night to book their tickets into tonight’s championship game. The Rockets will face the winner of the other championship game between the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers and the Valparaiso Beacons. The result of that game was unavailable up to press time.

Against Tulane, the Rockets had three starters reach double figures in scoring but still had to hold off a late comeback.

Jalen Cook had a game-high 25 points for the Green Wave, but missed a potential game-winning jumper in the waning seconds and Toledo held on for the dramatic win.

Junior forward JT Shumate paced the Rockets with 19 points and 10 rebounds while junior forward Setric Millner Jr. dropped in 18 points and 12 rebounds and sophomore guard Ryan Rollins contributed 16 points and six rebounds.

The Rockets shot just 36.9 percent from the floor (24-for-65) compared to 41 percent (25-for-61) for the Green Wave but were dominant on the boards as they out-rebounded the Green Wave, 53-33, and had 13 assists compared to seven for the Green Wave. They led by as much as 11 points in the first half, and were up by 10 at the break, 42-32, but watched as Tulane came all the way back in the second half.

Tulane got to within four points early in the second half, but the Rockets quickly pushed the lead back up to double digits. A second scoring run by Tulane in the second half brought them to within one point at the midway point of that half, but they were never able to pull even or go ahead.

Tulane remained within striking distance until the final buzzer.

A total of 19 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men and women’s teams engaged in high-level basketball action, over three tournaments, at the Baha Mar Resort this week.

The action tipped off on Monday with the ‘Nassau Championship’ featuring seven men’s teams.

Women teams will hit the floor on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, as the ‘Pink Flamingo Championship’ gets underway.

In the first game of the day, North Carolina State will battle the Maryland Terrapins in a game between two teams ranked in the top five of the Associated Press Rankings. That game is set to get underway at 11 a.m. Following that, the Indiana Hoosiers will take on the defending national champions Stanford Cardinal. That game is set for a 1:30 p.m. start. The final women’s game of the day will feature Washington State going up against the Miami Hurricanes. That game will be held at 4 p.m.

On Friday, Stanford will battle South Florida in a game at noon.

A trio of games will wrap up the ‘Pink Flamingo Championship’ on Saturday.

In the first game of the day, the Terrapins will battle Stanford. That game is set for 3 p.m. At 6 p.m., North Carolina State will go up against Washington State, and in the final game of the day, the Hurricanes will challenge the Indiana Hoosiers. That game is set for 8:30 p.m.

Going on simultaneously will be the ‘Bahamas Championship’ featuring four top level NCAA Division I schools.

In men’s action on Thanksgiving Day, the Maryland Terrapins will battle Richmond in a game at 7 p.m., and the Louisville will go up against Mississippi State in a game at 9:30 p.m.

The championship game of the ‘Bahamas Championship’ will be held on Saturday, November 27 at 10 a.m. and will be followed by the consolation game at 12:30 p.m.

The championship game for the ‘Bahamas Championship’ will be televised live on CBS Sports.

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