In desperate need of a win, the University of Toledo men's basketball team had chances against Northern Illinois on Tuesday night at Savage Arena, but Huskies star guard Eugene German made enough clutch plays late in the game for NIU to earn a 66-61 win.
German scored six of the last eight Huskies points on his way to 25 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field and a 3-of-6 mark on 3-pointers.
The result was the fourth straight loss for Toledo (11-12, 3-7 MAC) as the Rockets struggle to find answers during the recent skid.
“I thought Eugene German may have had the best game that I've seen him have,” Toledo coach Tod Kowalczyk said. “Obviously, he's a 2,000 point scorer, but I've seen him take a lot of bad shots in his career. Tonight, he was under control, made the right decisions, and made big plays down the stretch. I thought that was the difference.”
Willie Jackson and Luke Knapke led Toledo with 15 points each, Marreon Jackson had 14 points, and Spencer Littleson scored 12.
Littleson was back in the lineup after missing the previous two games with a shoulder injury.
Toledo trailed for much of the second half, but when Keshaun Saunders made a 3-pointer with 5:14 left, the Rockets had tied the game at 52.
But Noah McCarty and German hit back-to-back 3-pointers to quickly get the lead back to six points.
Toledo worked its way back to a two-point deficit at 60-58 when Willie Jackson made a layup with 1:50 left.
Darius Beane traveled on the next NIU possession. With a chance to tie, Marreon Jackson missed a difficult shot on a drive to the basket, and German converted a driving layup on the other end and added two free throws to pad the lead back to 64-58 after a key Willie Jackson turnover.
Marreon Jackson made a 3-pointer to cut it to 64-61 with eight seconds left, but Toledo was forced to foul and Beane made two free throws to close out the win.
“It came down to execution at the end,” Willie Jackson said. “We missed some shots and Eugene German made some big plays. That's what it came down to was execution and just a player making big plays at the end of the game.”
At the beginning of the game, Littleson showed he was back in good form by making his first 3-point attempt of the game.
The first half featured two ties and six lead changes. Toledo led by six points early on, but Northern Illinois pushed out to a four-point lead at 25-21.
Toledo scored the next five points on a Littleson 3-pointer and a Marreon Jackson layup with 4:05 left that gave the Rockets a 26-25 lead.
But Toledo, which has been hurt by scoring droughts all season, didn't score the rest of the half as Northern Illinois ended on a 7-0 run.
The Huskies made eight of their last 10 shots from the field to take a 32-26 lead into halftime.
After the game, Willie Jackson said as a senior he feels the responsibility to help Toledo break out of its current funk.
“I love my teammates, I love my coaching staff, but I just have to do more,” Jackson said. “I have to pick guys up. I have to try to coach guys as much as I can...Yes, we are not winning, but I love it. I love my back against the wall as a senior and I have to lead. That's what leaders' do, they lead.”
The losses are piling up for Toledo and, as Kowalczyk pointed out, it is uncharted territory for he and his staff as well as for the current players.
Toledo has already had a five-game losing streak this season and is now in the midst of a four-game slide. Kowalczyk said he has to be careful not to overreact and change things on a whim.
“We have had a lot of good success over time and our guys feel very comfortable in our system,” Kowalczyk said. “Do we all the sudden throw in eight new plays or a new offense because we didn't win the game when we played well, battled, and were right there? I think the biggest mistake a coach can make is to change everything. Our blueprint has been successful and will continue to be successful. Right now, we're just going through a tough stretch. A lot of programs go through tough stretches.”
First Published February 5, 2020, 3:21 a.m.
