Balanced Attack Propels Toledo to 84-67 Victory Over Northern Illinois

Saturday, January 14

DeKalb, Ill.

3:30 p.m. CT

University of Toledo

11-6,2-2MAC

Northern Illinois

5-12,1-3MAC

Toledo

NIU

Sophomore Dante Maddox Jr. led Toledo with 18 points in the Rockets' 84-67 win at NIU.

Photo by: Scott Walstrom, NIU Athletics

Balanced Attack Propels Toledo to 84-67 Victory Over Northern Illinois

1/14/2023 8:54:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Final Stats (PDF)

Four Rockets score at least 15 points to give UT its first conference road win

DeKALB, Ill. – Four Rockets scored at least 15 points to propel the Toledo men's basketball team to its first Mid-American Conference road victory on Saturday afternoon with an 84-67 win over Northern Illinois (5-12, 1-3 MAC). UT's win was its fourth-straight over the Huskies as well as it fifth in last six trips to DeKalb.

"This was a very good road win for us heading into Tuesday's game against a talented Ohio team," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "We guarded from start to finish, played with energy and talked on defense. Northern Illinois' guards are such good scorers and a big key for us was holding David Coit to six points and 2-of-13 shooting."

Sophomore Dante Maddox Jr. led the way for Toledo (11-6, 2-2 MAC) with 18 points with senior Setric Millner Jr., senior JT Shumate and junior RayJ Dennis each scoring 15 points.

Junior AJ Edu grabbed a season-high nine rebounds to help the Rockets register a 44-32 rebounding advantage and a 19-7 edge in second-chance points.

Dennis and sophomore Ra'Heim Moss each dished out five assists to help UT collect 17 assists on its 25 field goals. Millner and Moss each grabbed a team-high three steals, while Shumate blocked a team-best three shots.

Toledo held a decided advantage at the free-throw line, knocking down 28-of-38 free throws compared to NIU's 15-of-24 totals.

The Huskies were paced in scoring by seniors Darweshi Hunter (22 pts.) and Kaleb Thornton (21 pts.).

Toledo is back in action on Tuesday, Jan. 17 when it hosts Ohio in a Whiteout game in Savage Arena. Tip-off time is set for 7:00 p.m. with free jerseys being given to the first 400 students.

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST HALF

JT Shumate's two free throws gave Toledo the lead for good, 6-5, two minutes into the game.
The Rockets gained control with a 17-0 run over a six-minute span for a 34-14 cushion.
Dante Maddox Jr. and RayJ Dennis keyed the spurt with six and five points, respectively.
Maddox connected on his third three-pointer to give UT its largest lead of the game, 37-15, 3:42 before halftime.
Dennis hit a jumper at the buzzer to give the Rockets a 41-23 advantage at intermission.
Toledo shot 50.0 percent from the field in the first half and limited NIU to a 38.9 mark.
Maddox (14 pts.) and Dennis (11 pts.) each scored in double digits.

SECOND HALF

NIU reduced its deficit to 50-37 less than five minutes into the second half and had chances to come within 11.
Setric Millner Jr pushed the Rockets' lead back to 53-37 with a three-pointer at the 13:46 mark.
The Huskies' Darweshi Hunter answered with a triple, but Toledo responded with baskets from Dennis and Millner as well as two free throws from EJ Farmer to extend its lead to 19 points.
JT Shumate topped Toledo in the second half with 13 points, while Millner added 11.