TOLEDO, Ohio – Sophomore Sam Lewis poured in a career-high 23 points and sophomore Javan Simmons registered a double-double to lead the Toledo men's basketball team to an 89-85 Mid-American Conference victory over Northern Illinois before a season-high 5,057 fans in Savage Arena on Saturday afternoon.

The victory kept the Rockets (13-8, 7-2 MAC) in third place in the league standings. Akron (16-5, 9-0) is in first place, one game ahead of Miami (16-5, 8-1).

"I'm happy with the win," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "We did a much better job executing situationally at the end of the game which was not the case in our last game at Ohio. We've put ourselves in position to play big games in February and that's fun. It was fun playing in front of a big crowd today."

The Rockets never trailed in the contest and led by as many as 19 points in the first half.

Lewis and Simmons (13 pts.) were joined in double figures by sophomore Sonny Wilson (19 pts.), sophomore Bryce Ford (14 pts.) and fifth-year senior Isaiah Adams (10 pts.).

Simmons tied his season best with 12 rebounds to help the Rockets out-rebound the Huskies by a 49-33 margin.

"Javan is too good of a rebounder not to go and get the ball every single time," Kowalczyk said. "He underachieved a little bit in non-conference and now he's leading the league in offensive rebounds."

Toledo overcame a 40.0 FG% and 30.8 three-point FG% (4-of-13) by knocking down a season-high 33-of-38 free throw attempts (86.8%). NIU shot 47.8% from the field, 38.7% (12-of-31) from three-point range and 53.8% (7-of-13) at the charity stripe.

The Rockets collected 14 assists and committed just six turnovers. Adams led UT with seven assists, with Simmons and Wilson dishing out three helpers.

Four Huskies scored in double figures with Nasir Muhammad (21 pts.) and Quaran McPherson (20 pts.) leading the way.

ROCKET ROUNDUP

• Five Rockets scored in double digits for the 10^th time this season.
• Toledo is 5-0 in games decided by five points or less.
• Sam Lewis' 23 points were the most by a Rocket this season.
• Javan Simmons' double-double was his second this season and fourth of his career.
• Bryce Ford knocked down a career-high six free throws en route to a 14-point outing in a career-best 32 minutes.
• Toledo defeated the Huskies for the sixth time in the last seven meetings. 

HOW IT HAPPENED 

FIRST HALF

• The Rockets jumped out to a 13-7 lead at the 15:29 mark thanks to eight early points from Sonny Wilson.
• Toledo extended its lead with an 8-0 run capped by Bryce Ford's short jumper to make it 28-14 at the 8:54 mark.
• Northern Illinois cut the lead to 43-33 on a pair of buckets by Quaran McPherson with 2:29 left in the half.
• Ford's lay-up followed by a pair of free throws from Sonny Wilson gave Toledo a 50-35 lead heading into halftime.
• Wilson had 14 points followed by Ford and Sam Lewis with 10 points apiece.

 SECOND HALF

•  Toledo's lead remained in double digits until an 8-2 run from the Huskies made the score 62-55 at the 13:01 mark.
•  Nasir Muhammad's three-pointer brought NIU to within 66-62 with 8:58 left.
• Dunks from Grgur Brcic and Lewis as well as Javan Simmons' and Sonny Wilson's buckets pushed the Rockets' lead to 76-66 at the 4:44 mark.
• After Toledo pushed its lead to 13 points, Muhammad drained back-to-back three-pointers to make it 81-74 with 1:36 to play.
• McPherson then hit another triple and Quentin Jones followed a layup to cut the lead to 83-81 with 26.3 seconds left.
• Bryce Ford followed by hitting four straight free throws to give UT an 87-84 lead with seven seconds left.
• NIU then missed one of two free throws before Simmons closed out the game with a pair of free throws.

UP NEXT
Toledo will continue its three-game homestand when it hosts Buffalo on Tuesday, Feb. 4 and James Madison on Saturday, Feb. 8.