Toledo raced out to a 16-point lead early in the opening half and went on to down the Northern Illinois University men’s basketball team, 78-55, on Tuesday afternoon at Savage Arena.

The Rockets made 12 3-pointers in the contest, shooting 40 percent (12-of-30) from beyond the arc, and outrebounded NIU, 43-33. The Huskies (1-6 overall, 0-2 MAC) were 1of 15 on 3-pointers.

Junior Trendon Hankerson led the Huskies with 16 points, sophomore Tyler Cochran tied his career-high with 15 points and finished just shy of a double-double with nine rebounds.

“The start hurt us, I think it was 22-6 and then we wanted to play,” said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. “We missed some shots early, but we didn’t get any stops. We played tentative, Toledo had more intensity coming out, maybe because they made shots, but we didn’t weather the storm.”

Toledo (7-3, 2-0 MAC) opened the contest on a 10-2 run before a jumper from sophomore Kaleb Thornton (Bolingbrook, Ill./Iowa Western CC) trimmed the Rockets advantage back to a half-dozen. Toledo answered with the next 10 as the Rockets led, 20-4, with 12:24 left before the intermission.

NIU will return to action on January 2, when the Huskies host Bowling Green. Tipoff against the Falcons is slated for 5 p.m. and will be the second half of a doubleheader with the NIU women’s basketball team hosting Western Michigan at 1 p.m.