Cleveland, Ohio – A hot-shooting Northern Illinois team ended No. 2 seed Toledo's hopes of winning the MAC Tournament, as the Rockets fell to the No. 7 seeded Huskies, 80-76, in Mid-American Conference Men's Basketball Tournament quarterfinal action at Quicken Loans Arena Thursday night.
 
        Sophomore guard Marreon Jackson scored 11 of his team-high 17 points, including several clutch plays down the stretch, but it wasn't enough to overcome the performance of NIU junior guard Eugene German. German scored 27 points on 11-of-15 shooting, one of several Huskies who shot the ball well. For the game, Northern Illinois (17-16) connected on 31-of-55 shots from the field (56.4%), including a sizzling 10-of-17 from three-point range.
 
        Toledo (25-7) also shot the ball well, hitting 45.6 percent of its shots and knocking down 14 triples. But the Rockets were hurt by the absence of junior forward and leading rebounder Willie Jackson, who played just eight minutes, none in the second half, due to illness. UT was outrebounded, 31-28, and missed Jackson's low-post defense.
 
        Joining Marreon Jackson in double figures were junior center Luke Knapke (16), senior forward Nate Navigato (15), senior guard Jaelan Sanford (13) and senior guard Chris Darrington (12).
 
        Toledo trailed by two at the half, 41-39, and briefly led by two points early in the second half before Northern slowly pulled away. Marreon Jackson hit a three-pointer and a driving layup in the final minute to cut the lead to one, 76-75. NIU then made four free throws in the final 20 seconds to clinch the victory.
              
FIRST HALF

•  Toledo held an 11-7 lead at the first media timeout, with four different players all making a bucket. Jaelan Sanford nailed his second three of the half to extend the margin to 14-7 with 15:12 left.
•  NIU scored the next seven points to tie the score, 14-14.
•  A Eugene German three-pointer at the 9:03 mark capped a 12-0 Huskie run that gave them a 29-20 lead.
•  Nate Navigato hit consecutive triples to cut NIU's advantage to 29-26.
•  The Huskies pushed the led back to 10 when German hit a long three-pointer to make the score 39-29 with 4:52 left in the period.
•  Toledo came back once again as a Sanford pull-up from the corner capped a 10-2 run that trimmed the lead to 41-39 at halftime.
•  Toledo hit 13-of-30 (43.3%) from the field, including 9-of-16 from long range. Sanford and Navigato each scored 11 in the first 20 minutes.
•  Northern Illinois sank 16-of-29 shots, 8-of-13 from behind the arc. German led all scorers with 18 first-half points.

SECOND HALF

•  NIU scored the first four points of the half, but the Rockets countered with three by Spencer Littleson and a layup from Luke Knapke to cut the lead to 45-44.
•  Moments later, Chris Darrington converted a three-point play on a breakaway layup to give the Rockets a 49-47 edge, their first lead since early in the first half.
•  The two teams traded baskets over the next few minutes, until NIU went on an 8-3 run. Levi Bradley tipped in his own miss to make the score 64-59, forcing Toledo to call timeout with 7:08 remaining.
•  UT fought back, as Marreon Jackson nailed a three-pointer and a layup to cut the NIU lead to 68-65 with 4:13 left. Moments later, Knapke tied it at 68-68 with a triple with 2:43 that forced an NIU timeout.
•  German knocked down a triple and two-pointer to put NIU up, 73-70.
• Following a Knapke missed three-pointer, Toledo forced a miss by German late in the shot clock, but NIU's James Lacey was fouled after grabbing an offensive rebound. Lacey converted both ends of the one-and-one, giving NIU a 75-70 lead with 47 seconds remaining.
•  Navigato missed a three-point attempt. The miss went out of bounds and was ruled off Toledo, giving NIU the possession.
•  After Bradley made 1-of-2 free throws, Marreon Jackson knocked down a three with 23.2 seconds left, cutting the lead to 76-73.
•  Bradley then missed the front end of a one-and-one, and Marreon Jackson drove in for layup with 10 seconds left to make the score 76-75.
•  Bradley sank a pair of free tosses to up the NIU advantage to 78-75.
•  NIU fouled intentionally, and Marreon Jackson made 1-of-2 free throws. On the miss, NIU's Thorpe grabbed the rebound, was fouled, and made both free throws to clinch the win for Northern.

UP NEXT

•  Toledo will find out its post-season destiny on Sunday when the NIT tournament pairings are announced.

Highlights from UT's quarterfinal round matchup against Northern Illinois.


Rocket Seniors Jaelan Sanford and Nate Navigato, and Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk Post-Game.