Even Toledo coach Stan Joplin was shocked by his team’s three-point shooting. But they did in fact shoot them well.

The Rockets converted 13 of 20 three pointers, which Joplin said was uncharacteristic of his club.

“We usually take three games for us to make 13 three’s,” Joplin said. “I never thought this team would shoot so badly from the three point line [earlier this season],” he said. “I always thought we had good shooters, but for some reason they were not knocking down shots.”

Toledo never hesitated when a three point opportunity came, and by the end of the first half, it was 5-of-8 from the beyond the arch.

The second half was not much different for Toledo as it came out and continued the onslaught of threes. The Huskies continued to make adjustments, but they still could not stop them. Toledo shot 8-of-10 at the three-point line in the second half. Whenever the Rockets started to fall behind another big three was drained.

Toledo junior guard Justin Ingram, who was instrumental in the three-point barrage, said he knew his hard work in the gym was going to pay off.

“I knew that my teammates were by me, I had to keep my confidence up, I have been going to the gym and working out a lot and trying to knock down my shots, sooner or later I had to knock them down.”

The NIU fans were on their heels. But Toledo knew it wanted another three pointer. Ingram came through in the clutch and drained it.

“Today we just knocked down some shots,” Joplin said. “We have been working at it, the ball is not a hot potato.” These guys just knocked down shots and I am extremely happy because we needed every one,” Joplin said.

NIU forward Todd Peterson said he knew Toledo was a good shooting team coming into the game.

“They hit a lot of good shots down the stretch,” Peterson said. “We knew they were a good shooting team.”