CLEVELAND, Ohio –Sophomore guard EJ Farmer came off the bench to score a career-high 19 points and senior forward Setric Millner Jr. added 19 of his own to lead No. 1 seed Toledo to a 91-75 victory over No. 8 seed Miami in quarterfinal action of the Mid-American Conference Tournament at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland on Thursday.
 
Toledo, which improved its record to 26-6, will next face the winner of the Ball State-Ohio game on Friday at 5:00 p.m. The contest will be televised live on the CBS Sports Network.
 
"I thought this was a mature win," said Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk. "We did what we were supposed to do as the No. 1 seed playing the eight seed. Nothing more, nothing less. In the first half we came out really focused. We shared the ball, 11 assists and three turnovers, and shot 62 percent. We played efficient basketball."
 
"We've been here before," said Millner. "It's about putting the ball in the hoop. We came ready to play."
 
Toledo scored the first five points of the contest and never trailed. The Rockets, winners of their last 16 consecutive games, shot a blistering 62.1% (18-of-29) from the field in the first half to take a 48-33 lead into halftime. Toledo led by as many as 20 points in the second half and was never seriously threatened.
 
"It was nice to have a good start," said senior forward JT Shumate, who finished with 17 points. "When things don't go our way, how are we going to respond? That's the biggest thing. Being resilient."
 
In addition to Millner, Farmer and Shumate, junior guard and MAC Player of the Year RayJ Dennis (15 points) also scored in double digits for Toledo. The Rockets shot 58.2% for the game with Millner (8-of-11), Farmer (5-of-6) and Shumate (7-of-10) combining to make 20-27 (74.0%) of their shots.
 
Miami (12-20) shot 42.1% from the field and was led by Morgan Stafford's 21 points.
         
FIRST HALF

•  Toledo jumped out to an early 10-5 lead thanks to three-pointers by Dante Maddox and RayJ Dennis.
•  Dennis had consecutive field goals in a 9-3 run that increased Toledo's lead to 25-12 and forced a Miami timeout at the 11:52 mark.
•  A Ra'Heim Moss layup increased the lead to 27-12 before Miami countered with a field goal and a three-pointer to cut the lead to 27-17.
•  Miami cut the lead to eight, 37-29, with a pair of buckets before a Maddox triple pushed the margin to 40-29 just before the final media timeout of the half with 2:57 left.
•  Toledo ended the half on an 11-4 run, highlighted by a pair of Setric Milner three-pointers, to go into the locker room with a 48-33 lead.
•  The Rockets shot 18-of-29 (62.1%) from the floor in the first half, including 6-of-14 (42.9%) from three-point range. Millner led the way with 12 points, followed by Dennis and Maddox with nine points each.

SECOND HALF

•  Miami cut the lead to 12 points before Millner put the lead back to 15, 57-42, at the 15:38 mark with his third three-pointer.
•  AJ Edu capped a 7-2 Toledo run with a pair of free throws to extend Toledo's lead to 66-48 with 13:20 left.
•  Miami countered with a 6-0 spurt that cut the lead to 66-54, but a pair of EJ Farmer free throws and a Dennis field goal pushed the lead to 72-56.
•  JT Shumate scored four points in a 6-0 Toledo run that moved the lead to 80-60 with 5:48 left.
•  Miami hit a three-pointer with 14 seconds left cut the final margin to 16 points.