SHEBOYGAN, Wis. - The men's basketball team took to the court on Saturday looking to reinvigorate its season and get back into the win column. However, it turned out to be a difficult task as the Lakeland College Muskies held a 15-3 overall record and an 8-1 NAC record entering into Saturday's game. The Regents started off the game taking an early 3 point lead off a basket from Arthur Miller IV (Burlington, Wis./Burlington). Unfortunately that would be the largest lead of the afternoon for the Regents. Rockford was able to keep the game close through the first twenty minutes of action. The Regents got points from seven different players in the first half with seniors Grant Olsen (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) and Sam Chones (Milwaukee, Wis./Riverside) each scoring 6 points. The team's balanced scoring kept them in the game as they entered halftime trailing 34-28.
The second half was not as kind to the Regents. The Muskies opened the second half on a 16-1 run over the first 4 minutes and 43 seconds and never really looked back. Rockford was never able to significantly cut into the lead only managing to get it down to 11 points at the 5:41 mark. Lakeland scored two quick baskets bringing their lead back up to 15 points and coasted to a 77-65 victory.
Scott Suchy (Genoa, Ill./Genoa-Kingston) was once again the leading for Rockford. Suchy poured in 15 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds. The junior is currently the second leading scorer in the Northern Athletics Conference averaging 17.8 points per game.
Fellow starters Tory Minnfield (Blue Island, Ill./Eisenhower) and Grant Olsen also gave the team solid efforts in the loss. Minnifield scored 11 points, grabbed 7 rebounds, had 3 assists and 2 steals. While Olsen narrowly missed a double-double scoring 9 points with 8 rebounds and 5 assists.
Sam Chones provided a much needed boost off the bench for Rockford. Chones scored 13 points and connected on 3 of 5 three-point attempts. The senior also corralled 3 rebounds and committed zero turnovers in 27 minutes of play.
The men's team will return to the court on January 23rd when it travel to Wisconsin Lutheran College to face the Warriors. Tip-off is at 7:00 p.m.
