FOND DU LAC, Wis. - The Regents men's basketball team dropped its second straight road NACC game on Saturday 70-58 to the Marian University Sabres. Unlike Thursday's game at Aurora, the Regents got off to good start as Rockford and Marian traded baskets in the opening minutes. Zach Wallace (Rockford, Ill.) was a big part of Rockford's early success as the 6-8 sophomore connected on his first 3 shot attempts helping to give his team a 13-9 lead just over 6 minutes into the game. However at that point the Sabres tightened up their defense and went on a 20-4 run over the next 8 minutes to take a 12-point lead. The Marian lead grew to as many as 25 in the second half before Rockford made a late push to try and get itself back into the game. However, it was not enough as the Regents were never able to get the deficit under 10 points and ultimately fell 70-58.
Statistically the two schools were evenly matched in almost every category with Rockford actually finishing ahead of Marian in a few areas. The Regents outshot the Sabres from the field 44.7% to 40.3%, outscored them 32-to-30 in the paint and had 6 blocks compared to just 2 for Marian. However, it was a lack of rebounding that ultimately came back to haunt Rockford. The Sabres outrebounded the Regents 42-to-23 including a huge 20-to-5 advantage on the offensive glass. This allowed Marian to take an extra 15 shot attempts and control the game.
Individually Zach Wallace and Trae Blumhorst (Mendota, Ill.) did a nice job scoring under the basket on Saturday. Wallace poured in 15 points on just 5-of-7 shooting. The sophomore also grabbed 4 rebounds and had a season-high 3 blocks. Blumhorst had an excellent all-round game with 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 assist and 1 steal.
Junior John O'Bryan (Richmond, Ky.) was Rockford's leading scorer for the fourth time in the last five games. O'Bryan tallied 17 points while getting 2 rebounds and 1 steal.
The men's basketball team has a week off before it returns home next Saturday, December 13 against Wisconsin Lutheran College. The Warriors and Regents are set for a 4:15 p.m. tip-off in the Seaver Center.
