CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – A hot shooting night propelled the Toledo men's basketball team to an 83-75 road victory on Tuesday evening over Northern Iowa at the McLeod Center.

Toledo shot 51.7 percent from the field, including 60 percent in the second half, and 41.7 percent (10-of-24) from three-point range. The Rockets also hit all 13 of their free-throw attempts.

"This was a big win for our program against the defending Missouri Valley Conference champions," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "We got off to a good start and our defense played well. We moved the ball and trusted each other. It was a good team win and EJ Farmer really gave us great spark off the bench."

Senior JT Shumate led the Rockets (6-3) with 24 points and six rebounds with junior RayJ Dennis (21 pts.) and sophomore EJ Farmer (14 pts.) also in double digits. Farmer's 14 points were a career high and the second time he has scored in double digits as a Rocket.

Sophomore guard Bowen Born topped Northern Iowa (3-5, 1-1 MVC) with 27 points.

UT gained some breathing room down the stretch after the Panthers closed to within 70-65 with 4:45 to play. Dennis knocked down three free throws and then fed Shumate for a layup to give the Rockets a 75-65 advantage with 3:29 left. Toledo's lead didn't fall below eight points the remainder of the contest.

Toledo is back in action on Saturday, Dec. 10 when it hosts Canisius in its last home game before Christmas.  Tip-off time in Savage Arena is set for 2:00 p.m.

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST HALF

• Back-to-back triples from Setric Millner Jr. and EJ Farmer keyed an 8-0 run that put Toledo in front 19-11 and forced UNI to take a timeout at the 13:02 mark.
• Northern Iowa tied the score at 28-28 with a 12-0 run over a 3:04 span.
• Farmer ended the Rockets' drought by scoring seven straight points and then Shumate added five more to give UT a 40-28 cushion.
• Toledo took a 40-31 lead to the locker room. Shumate and Farmer led the Rockets with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

SECOND HALF

• Northern Iowa took its only lead of the game, 45-44, less than four minutes into the second half after stringing together a 10-0 run.
• RayJ Dennis immediately answered the spurt with a floater and three-pointer for a 49-45 lead at the 15:15 mark.
• Setric Millner, Jr. extended UT's advantage to seven a minute later when Farmer stole the ball and fed him for a layup.
• UNI again rallied to with 55-52, but Dennis and Shumate each responded with baskets for a 59-52 lead with 10:35 remaining.
• Toledo put the game away when Dennis hit three free throws and fed Shumate for a layup for a 75-65 margin with 3:29 to play.