CHICAGO, Ill. - The Rockford University men's basketball team won its first road game of the season on Wednesday night 63-51 at Illinois Tech. Rockford relied heavily on its defense as the 51 points allowed are the fewest since December 31, 2006 when the Regents defeated Westminster (Utah) 52-51. One of the key reasons to Rockford's defensive success was its pressure that forced a season-high 25 turnovers and recorded a season best 14 steals. Consequently the Regents were able to take 16 more shot attempts from the floor than the Scarlet Hawks and made more free throws (14) than Illinois Tech attempted (11).
The game got off to a good start as the Regents scored the first basket of the evening and never trailed despite being tied on five occasions. With the game tied at 11-11 Rockford made its first run of the evening scoring 9 of the next 11 points to grab a 20-13 advantage. John O'Bryan (Richmond, Ky.) sparked the run scoring 5 of the 9 points including knocking down his second three-pointer of the game. However, Illinois Tech closed the first half strong with a 7-3 run of its own to pull back within three points at the intermission.
The second half started the same way as the first as the Regents and Scarlet Hawks battled back-and-forth in the opening minutes. With the game tied at 30-30 and just over 14 minutes remaining in the second half, Rockford slowly began to put some distance between itself and the Scarlet Hawks. Over the next 8 minutes, the Rockford lead grew to as many as 14 after John O'Bryan connected on his sixth three-point basket with just under six minutes remaining. Illinois Tech put together one final push and got back to within six points, but sophomore Zach Wallace (Rockford, Ill./Belvidere) promptly knocked down a jumper to spark a 9-0 run ending the threat and securing the victory.
Junior John O'Bryan led the Regents in scoring for the sixth time in the last seven games. O'Bryan poured in 31 points including connecting on a season-high 7 three-point baskets. It is the second time this season O'Bryan has scored over 30 points in a game. He also added 3 rebounds and 2 steals to round out his stat line.
Kenny Parks (Mascoutah, Ill.), Brandon Tyson (Joliet, Ill.) and Zach Wallace combined to score 25 of the remaining 33 Rockford points. Parks had a good all-around game with 9 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 blocked shot. Tyson scored all 8 of Rockford's bench points on an impressive 2-of-3 shooting performance from the floor and going a perfect 4-of-4 at the free throw line. Wallace also scored 8 points while grabbing 8 rebounds, recording 3 assists and blocking 2 shots.
The men's basketball team returns to action on Saturday, December 20 at Edgewood College. Tip-off is at 6:00 p.m.
