Toledo to Conclude Home Season vs. NIU Tuesday; Senior Night Cer - WICU12/WSEE Erie, PA News, Sports, Weather and Events

Toledo to Conclude Home Season vs. NIU Tuesday; Senior Night Ceremony to be Held Following Game

Toledo (13-13, 8-6 MAC) closes out its home campaign on Tuesday, March 5 with its annual 'Senior Night' against Mid-American Conference foe Northern Illinois (5-22, 3-11 MAC). Tip-off time is set for 7:00 p.m. inside Savage Arena.

Seniors Dominique Buckley and Brendon Schwiebert will be honored in a ceremony following the contest.

The Rockets, who will be looking to snap a two-game losing streak, trail Western Michigan by one game in the West Division standings with two league contests remaining. The Huskies are on an eight-game losing skid but have posted two of their MAC victories on the road at Miami and Central Michigan.

UT will be looking to sweep the season series against Northern Illinois for the first time since the 2006-07 campaign after posting a 69-64 victory in DeKalb on Feb. 2. Sophomore G Julius Brown led the Rockets with 20 points with junior F Matt Smith (14 pts.) and junior G Rian Pearson (12 pts., team-high eight reb.) joining him in double figures.

UT features two of the MAC's top scorers with junior G Rian Pearson pacing the league at 18.2 ppg and sophomore G Julius Brown in 10th place at 13.2 ppg. Pearson and Brown are tied with Kent State's Chris Evans (16.9) and Randal Holt (14.3) as the MAC's top scoring tandem at 31.4 ppg.

Toledo has continued as the MAC's top free-throw shooting squad this season. UT paces the conference and is shooting a school-record 76.7 percent (and is fifth in the nation as of Mar. 3) after leading the league last year with a 72.6 mark.

Sophomore F Abdel Nader (19 pts., game-high 11 reb. vs. UT in first meeting) leads Northern Illinois with 13.1 ppg and 5.6 rpg but did not play in Saturday's 69-50 home loss to Central Michigan.