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DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University men’s basketball team trailed by just two at halftime, but Toledo shot 55 percent in the second half, and 95 percent from the free-throw line, as the Rockets earned an 80-69 victory over the Huskies on Saturday night at the NIU Convocation Center. Junior Darrell Bowie (Milwaukee, Wis./La Jolla Prep) led three Huskies in double figures with 18 points.

Sophomore Aaric Armstead (Chicago, Ill./La Jolla Prep) added 14 points and senior Anthony Johnson (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young/Purdue) added 12 points.

“I thought our guys battled, we kept fighting,” said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. “We got behind early in the first half and found a way to get within two at halftime. We just weren’t able to defend without fouling. In the second half (Toledo) was in the bonus with 14 minutes to go, so that was unfortunate.

“We had a lot of good basketball from a lot of our guys, Darrell Bowie with 18 points; it was great to have Aaric Armstead back. Credit Toledo, they got to the foul line. We were within six with about eight minutes to go and they stepped up and made back-to-back three-pointers. We kept battling, but we just came up a little short today.”

Toledo (13-8, 5-3 MAC) scored the first six points of the contest to take an early lead. The advantage ballooned to seven, 11-4, on a triple by Julius Brown less than four minutes into the contest before the Huskies scored the next five on a triple by Bowie and a pair of free throws by junior Chuks Iroegbu (Franklin, Calif./Elk Grove/City College of San Francisco) to cut the deficit to just two.

The Rockets built their lead back to double figures, 33-23, with just over three minutes left in the half before the Huskies closed with a 10-2 burst to cut the Toledo lead to just two.

Johnson started the burst with a pair of free throws, Bowie then added a pair from the line to trim the lead to a half-dozen, 33-27, with 2:34 left before the break. Johnson and Toledo’s Nathan Boothe traded layups before the Huskies ended the half with a layup from Bowie and another layup from Johnson, cutting the Toledo lead to just a pair, 35-33, at the break.

Bowie led all scorers with 11 points in the first half, Johnson and Aaric Armstead each added eight points in the opening stanza. Toledo was led by nine points from Boothe in the opening 20 minutes.

NIU (8-11, 2-6 MAC) cut the Toledo lead to just one on a pair of occasions early in the second half before a 10-2 Toledo burst pushed the lead to nine, 47-38, with 16:42 to play.

A triple from sophomore Michael Orris (Crete, Ill./Crete-Monee/Kansas State) and an old-fashioned three-point play from senior Jordan Threloff (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb/Illinois State) cut the Rocket lead to just three, but the Rockets continued to hold off the Huskies and built the lead back to a dozen, 70-58, with 8:21 left.

With Toledo leading back 11, senior Aaron Armstead (Chicago, Ill./Hales Franciscan/San Jose City College) knocked down a triple, followed by a layup from Bowie to bring the Huskies within five, 72-67, with just under five minutes to play, but the Rockets scored the next eight, six of which came from the free-throw line, to put the game out of reach.

Justin Drummond scored 20 points, including 12-of-12 from the free-throw line, to lead Toledo. Brown added 16 points, Boothe chipped in 13 and Jonathan Williams added 11 points.

The Huskies will return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 4, as they travel to Oxford, Ohio, to meet the RedHawks of Miami. Game time is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT.