TOLEDO, Ohio – The Northern Illinois University men's basketball team trailed by 13 with 2:24 to play and rallied to within one, but Toledo held off the Huskies as the Rockets claimed an 89-85 win on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 1) at Savage Arena. 

Nasir Muhammad (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xaverian) tied a career-high with 21 points, Quaran McPherson (South Jamaica Queens, N.Y./Link Year Prep) scored 20 points while Quentin Jones (Chicago, Ill./Marian Catholic) added 18 and James Dent Jr. (Springfield, Ill./Springfield Southeast) chipped in 15 points. 

Toledo (13-8, 7-2 MAC) led 81-68 before Muhammad knocked in back-to-back triples to ignite the Huskie rally and cut the Rocket lead to seven with 1:37 left. 

Muhammad went 6-of-8 from beyond the three-point line in the contest. 

After Dent made a bucket and Toledo converted a pair of free throws, McPherson made a trifecta, closing the gap to just four, 83-79, with 41 seconds remaining. NIU then got a stop and Jones raced the length of the floor for a layup to bring the Huskies within a pair with 26 seconds to play. 

Toledo made two more free throws and NIU missed at the rim, but Muhammad was able to redirect the ball to Dent in the corner from on his back while falling out of bounds and the Springfield, Ill., native drained a three with 8.8 seconds left, trimming the Rocket advantage to 85-84. 

Following a pair of Toledo free throws to go back up three, the Rockets intentionally fouled so NIU couldn't get a three-point attempt and Muhammad made one from the line as the Rocket led 87-85 with four seconds to play. NIU fouled one more time and Toledo made two again to survive for the four-point victory. 

Toledo finished the game 33-of-38 (86.8 percent) from the charity stripe, NIU went 7-of-13 (53.8 percent). Sam Lewis paced the Rockets with 23 points, Sonny Wilson added 19, Bryce Ford scored 14 points, Javan Simmons had 13 and Isaiah Adams chipped in 10 points. 

The home team led in the early going as a triple from Muhammad brought NIU within a pair, 9-7. The Rockets scored the next four as they led by a half-dozen, 13-7, four and a half minutes into the contest. 

The Rockets led by seven before Jones made a triple to bring the Huskies back within four, 18-14, with 13:35 left before the intermission. 

Toledo responded with the next eight as the Rockets extended their lead to 26-14, forcing a Huskie timeout. The run reached 10-0 before a bucket by Jones, the Rockets then scored the next four as the lead grew to 32-16 with a little under eight minutes to play in the half. 

The Rocket lead ballooned to 38-19, its largest of the half, before a bucket from Jones and a pair of free throws by McPherson. 

Five-straight points from McPherson had the Huskies back within 10, 43-33, with 2:29 remaining in the half, but Toledo finished the opening stanza on a 7-2 burst to lead 50-35 at the intermission. 

Wilson had 14 points to lead all scorers, Ford and Lewis each had 10 for the Rockets. McPherson led NIU with 13 first half points, Jones added 11. The Rockets went 11-of-14 (78.6 percent) from the free throw line in the opening 20 minutes while the Huskies were just 3-of-6. 

NIU (5-16, 1-8 MAC) scored the first five to start the second half as the Huskies pulled within 10, 50-40. Toledo answered with four to push the lead back to 14 with 17:30 left. 

The Rocket advantage was 13 when a bucket from Kailon Nicholls (Toronto, Ontario/Hargrave Military Academy) and a triple by Muhammad helped spark a 12-3 NIU run, pulling the visitors within four. Dent added a triple during the run, Jones and McPherson also scored as the Huskies cut the Toledo lead to 63-59 with 12:31 to go. 

A 10-4 spurt for the Rockets pushed the lead to 76-66 for the Rockets with 4:44 left and the Toledo lead climbed to 13 before the late NIU comeback.

NIU shot 52.8 percent (19-of-36) from the field in the second half, including 47.1 percent (8-of-17) from three, while holding Toledo to just 28.6 percent (8-of-28) in the second 20 minutes, including 1-of-6 (16.7 percent) from three, but the Rockets went 22-of-24 (91.7 percent) from the free-throw line after halftime. 

NIU will return to action on Tuesday, Feb. 4, before returning home to host the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in the MAC/Sun Belt Challenge on Saturday, Feb. 8.