DeKALB, Ill. – Junior Ra'Heim Moss scored 20 points to spearhead a balanced attack as the Toledo men's basketball team rolled to an 89-73 road victory on Tuesday evening over Northern Illinois. The victory kept the Rockets (12-7, 6-1 MAC) in second place in the Mid-American Conference, one game behind league-leading Akron (15-4, 7-0 MAC).

"We played really well in the first half and Northern Illinois matched us," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "The difference was right after halftime when we got some unbelievable stops which helped us get into transition."

The game was tied at halftime, 38-38, but Toledo scored 51 second-half points to roll to their sixth win in their last seven games.

Moss was joined in double digits by redshirt freshman Javan Simmons (19 pts.), junior Tyler Cochran (18 pts.) and freshman Sonny Wilson (15 pts.). Junior Dante Maddox Jr. finished with seven points but led the Rockets with seven rebounds and three steals. He was held out of double digits for the first time in 13 games.

"Northern did a phenomenal job on Dante and I'm really proud that he didn't take bad shots," Kowalczyk said. "He didn't get discouraged and was more of a decoy for us tonight. I thought our freshman point guards Sonny (Wilson) and Bryce (Ford) played really well too."

Toledo shot 48.4% from the field and 44.4% (8-of-18) from three-point range. NIU registered a 48.3% shooting mark but was 6-of-25 (24.0%) from behind the arc. The Rockets held a decided advantage at the free-throw line, knocking down 21-of-30 shots at the charity stripe compared to the Huskies' 9-of-13 totals.

UT committed just nine turnovers compared to NIU's 14 miscues.

Toledo returns to action on Saturday, Jan. 27 when it hosts arch-rival Bowling Green (14-5, 5-2 MAC). Tip-off for the Pack Savage contest is set for 2:00 p.m. with streaming on ESPN+.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Toledo registered its fifth straight victory over Northern Illinois and notched its sixth win in the seven contests in DeKalb.
• Javan Simmons' 19-point outing was one shy of his career high.
• Sonny Wilson tallied 15 points for his sixth double-digit outing of the season.

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST HALF

• Toledo jumped out to an early 10-5 lead on Javan Simmons dunk at the 16:04 mark.
• NIU answered with five straight points and took a 15-14 advantage three minutes later on David Coit's three-pointer.
• The Rockets then led by four points on six different occasions before a 6-0 run put NIU in front 34-32 just over three minutes before the half.
• The Huskies' Xavier Amos tied the score at 38-38 at the half with a putback dunk right before the buzzer.
• Moss paced the Rockets offensively with 12 points and four rebounds.
• Toledo shot 46.9% from the field, while NIU posted a 48.4 FG%.

SECOND HALF

• The Rockets opened the second half on fire with Sonny Wilson hitting a three-pointer for a 51-38 cushion at the 16:51 mark.
• Sam Lewis knocked down another triple to extend the Rockets' advantage to 59-42 with 14:24 remaining.
• NIU closed within 67-59 with eight minutes left, but UT responded with a 7-0 burst to put the game away.