Rockets iced by Huskies at home

For some reason, Savage Arena has not been a friendly place this season for the University of Toledo men’s basketball team.

The Rockets (18-10, 10-5 MAC) dropped an 84-82 decision to Northern Illinois (11-15, 5-10 MAC) Wednesday night. UT’s fourth home conference loss of the season knocked Toledo a game out of first place in the Mid-American Conference West Division with just three games left in the regular season.

It is only the second loss in the Rockets’ last ten games, with both defeats occurring on their home court. The last time UT was at home, they fell in overtime to Kent State.

“We lack energy at times [at home], but at times our energy is very high,” said senior guard Justin Drummond. “A lot of the games that we’ve played have been very close.

“We’ve just got to go back to the drawing board and learn from the mistakes that we made today.”

UT defeated the Huskies 80-69 when the two teams met on Jan. 31 in DeKalb, Ill., but Northern Illinois refused to lie down and surrender in Wednesday’s rematch. The two teams exchanged the lead seven times in the first half alone and 13 times total, with NIU on top for the majority of the contest.

Nothing came easy for Toledo. All five UT starters finished in double-digit scoring figures, but senior forward J.D. Weatherspoon was the only one to reach the mark before halftime. The Rockets’ bench only managed seven points against NIU’s defense, all of which came courtesy of sophomore center Zach Garber.

The Huskies, in comparison, received 33 points from bench players.

“Our bench didn’t play well tonight,” said UT head coach Tod Kowalczyk. “I thought Zach Garber played well. I was not happy with the other three guys.”

Weatherspoon was stuffed on his first dunk attempt of the night, but received a second chance after an NIU turnover. Unimpeded, he leapt up and slammed the ball over his head and through the net behind him to give the Rockets a 6-5 lead.

The 6-6 Ohio native finished the game with 17 points and a team-high seven rebounds. He followed up his first dunk of the night with a trey that gave the home team a 9-8 advantage, but UT wouldn’t lead in the first half after the 11:53 mark.

“To me, the story was in the first half,” Kowalczyk said. “I just don’t think that we had the toughness out of the gate and that’s where we’ve been really good the last nine games.

“I don’t think we had the energy defensively at the start of the game.”

Drummond opened up the second half with five-straight points to join Weatherspoon in double figures.

The Huskies fought back, but Weatherspoon drew the Rockets within two of NIU with a dunk from Juice with 17:03 to play. UT’s first lead of the second half came courtesy of Juice with 12:11 left on the clock, when Toledo’s point guard went 2-for-2 from the charity stripe to give the Rockets a 59-57 advantage.

Juice finished the night with a game-high 20 points. He sank a pair of jumpers to give UT a 75-74 lead with 4:41 to play, but freshman center Marin Maric gave NIU a 76-75 edge from under the basket.

Juice put Toledo back on top with a jumper from the corner, giving the Rockets a 79-78 lead with 1:51 to play. He went 2-for-2 from the free throw line to pad the advantage, but Baker drew the teams even with a corner trey with just under a minute left.

Drummond gave UT a one-point lead from the free throw line, but senior guard Anthony Johnson sank a trey to put the Huskies on top 84-82 with ten seconds to play.

Juice got one last chance from the corner, but his shot fell short as the final buzzer sounded on Toledo’s second-straight home loss.

“We’ve lost some close games,” Kowalcyzk said. “Our league is good, you can’t take anyone for granted in this league, you just can’t. It’s a good league; everybody has got some players that can beat you on any given night.

“We still control our own destiny. We’ve just got to finish it out. All we want is still right there for us. It’s all on us.”

Toledo will return to Savage Arena on Saturday, Feb. 28, to host Ball State for UT’s final scheduled home game of the season. Tip off is set for 7 p.m.

The Rockets will then hit the road for their last two regular season contests, traveling north for a bout against first-ranked West Division foe Central Michigan and then wrapping up the campaign at Eastern Michigan.