Toledo holds off Oakland for 87-74 win

Greg Kampe

Jaelan Sanford scored 26 points, Luke Knapke had his first career double-double and Toledo cruised to an 87-74 win over Oakland on Saturday.

Tre'Shaun Fletcher added 20 points for Toledo, which has its first 3-0 season start since the 2013-14 season. Knapke finished with 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting and hauled in 10 rebounds.

Toledo pulled away late in the first half with an 11-2 run capped by Knapke's 3-pointer to make it 36-25 and took a 40-26 advantage into the break.

In the second half, Oakland (2-1) twice trimmed the gap to five, getting a 3-pointer from Nick Daniels to trail 60-55 with 8:37 left and a layup from Chris Palombizio about a minute later to make it 62-57.

Toledo responded with a 6-1 burst capped by Sanford's layup to stretch the lead to 68-58 with 5:31 to play and the Rockets protected the double-digit advantage the rest of the way.

Martez Walker led Oakland with 29 points, Kendrick Nunn had 24 points and James Beck got 11 to go with 10 rebounds.