TOLEDO, OH – Toledo nearly rallied from a nine-point deficit with just under three minutes remaining but came up just short in a 74-72 home setback to Northern Illinois on Saturday afternoon. The defeat leaves UT (11-10, 4-4 MAC) a game behind the Huskies (13-8, 5-3 MAC), Ball State (14-7, 5-3 MAC) and Eastern Michigan (13-8, 5-3 MAC) in the West Division standings.
Sophomore guard Jaelan Sanford topped the Rockets with a career-high 29 points with senior guard Jonathan Williams tallying 21 points. Senior forward Steve Taylor, Jr. paced Toledo on the boards with a game-high 17 rebounds to go along with a career-best nine assists.
Junior center Marin Maric paced a balanced Huskies' offense with 15 points to go along with a team-high nine rebounds. He was joined in double digits by sophomore guard Laytwan Porter (12 pts.), senior guard Aaric Armstead (11 pts.), senior guard Dontel Highsmith (11 pts.) and sophomore forward Levi Bradley (10 pts.).
Northern Illinois outrebounded the Rockets by a 36-27 margin and limited UT to a season-low two offensive boards resulting in a 10-1 advantage in second-chance points.
Sophmore forward Nate Navigato cut the visitor's lead to 70-64 by hitting a trey with 2:41 remaining to begin UT's comeback bid. Williams knocked down two free throws on the Rockets' next possession, and Sanford's three-point play with 41 seconds to play trimmed NIU's lead to 70-69.
Porter and Sanford then exchanged treys before Porter hit one of two free throws with 13.6 seconds left. Sanford had a chance to tie the score at 74-74 with 5.5 seconds left but missed two free throws.
Armstead then missed the front end of a one-and-one with 3.9 seconds to play, but Williams' three-point attempt was blocked by Armstead at the buzzer.
Toledo led by as many as 11 points in the first half before the Huskies rallied to take a 40-37 lead at intermission. The Rockets connected on nine of their first 10 shots and led 24-14 following a Taylor layup with 11:06 remaining in the first half.
Northern Illinois rallied to even the score at 28-28 at the 5:48 mark following back-to-back treys from Porter and sophomore guard Austin Pauga. Sanford's three-point play three-minutes later put UT in front 34-32, but the Huskies put together a 8-1 spurt before senior guard Jordan Lauf closed out the half with a layup.
Toledo returns to action on Tuesday, Jan. 31 when it travels to Muncie, IN to battle Ball State. Tip-off time is set for 7:00 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN3.
Coach Tod Kowalczyk post-game comments
