Feb 11, 2004

Final Stats| Quotes| Notes

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - Senior guard Keith Triplett scored 11 of his 15 points during a 25-0 second-half run and grabbed a career-high six steals to lead Toledo to a 69-61 victory over Northern Illinois on Wednesday night.

The Rockets (16-5, 10-3 MAC) trailed 44-27 after Perry Smith, who led Northern Illinois (7-15, 2-10) with 14 points, hit a three-pointer with 16:42 remaining.

Toledo then reeled off the next 25 points, holding the Huskies scoreless for more than 7 minutes.

Triplett hit two three-pointers in the surge, while senior center A.J. Shellabarger had five points off the bench. Freshman guard Justin Ingram also hit a three-pointer.

Northern Illinois drew as close as 59-55 with five minutes left, but Sammy Villegas, who scored 11 points for the Rockets, countered with a three-pointer and the lead never fell below seven points again.

Freshman forward Florentino Valencia added 11 points for Toledo.

Walter Thompson scored 13 points and Rome Sanders had 12 for Northern Illinois, which hit just 27 percent of its shots from the field in the second half compared to the Rockets' 55 percent.

Toledo returns to action at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 14 to battle Eastern Michigan (9-11, 4-8 MAC) in the second game of a doubleheader at Savage Hall. The UT women will battle Marshall in the first game of the twinbill beginning at 4:30 p.m.

With its win, Toledo moved a game-and-a-half ahead of Miami (12-8, 8-4 MAC) in the race for the No. 3 seed in the 2004 MAC Tournament. The Rockets remained a game-and-a-half behind Western Michigan (18-2, 11-1 MAC) in the West Division following the Broncos' 72-61 win at Ball State.