MILWAUKEE, Wis. - The Rockford University men's basketball team capped off a busy week on the road Saturday against the MSOE Raiders. Rockford began the week with a thrilling 86-77 win over the first place Aurora University Spartans but then fell on the road Thursday at Lakeland College. On Saturday the Regents hoped to find their way back into the win column in order to inch closer to the eighth and final spot in the NACC Tournament. For much of the afternoon it looked as though Rockford would capture its fourth win in its last five games; however, the Raiders caught fire in the second half shooting 61.5% from the floor and 55.6% from three-point range to seal the 89-81 win.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair as both teams both teams took turns taking the lead. Junior Ross Arteaga (Mendota, Ill.) kept Rockford in the game during the opening 9 minutes of the half scoring 12 of the team's first 20 points. Arteaga made 4 of his first 7 shot attempts and was a perfect 2-of-2 at the free throw line during that span. For that moment on the rest of the team began to catch fire as Rockford's next 9 points came from four different Regents. Junior John O'Bryan (Richmond, Ky.) gave Rockford its first lead since the opening moments of the game after connecting on a layup with 8:57 remaining in the first half. The Regents and Raiders traded buckets for the remainder of the half until sophomore Zach Wallace (Rockford, Ill.) found the bottom of the net on the final play of the half giving his team a 40-36 lead entering the intermission.

The second half followed a very similar pattern as both teams took turns sharing the lead. Rockford's Nicolas Ramos (Litchfield Park, Ariz.) draining a three-pointer to begin the second half giving the Regents their largest lead of the game at 43-36. However, MSOE answered right back with a 10-2 run over the next few minutes to retake the lead. Rockford and MSOE exchanged the lead multiple times until the 10:46 mark when the Raiders took control of the game. With Rockford still leading by a point, MSOE scored 4 points on one possession to retake the lead. The MSOE lead hovered around 4 points for the remainder of the game until the Raiders pulled away in the final minutes en route to an 89-81 victory.

Ross Arteaga had his best game of the year scoring a season-high 24 points on 7-of-15 shooting including knocking down 4-of-9 three-point attempts. Arteaga also added a team-high 4 assists and 1 steal to his totals. 

Sophomore Trae Blumhorst (Mendota, Ill.) continued his torrid play as of late scoring 20 points for the third time in the last four games. Blumhorst complimented his 20 points with 5 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal. 

Fellow sophomore Zach Wallace continued his recent dominance of the paint recording his sixth double-double of the season and third in the last five games. Wallace tallied 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting while grabbing 10 rebounds and blocking 2 shots. 

The RU men's basketball team returns to action on Wednesday, February 4 at Dominican University. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m.