ROCKFORD, Ill.- The Rockford University men's basketball team received a boost earlier this week after beating Dominican 97-91 in overtime. But with only three games remaining in the season and with Rockford still trailing in the conference tournament playoff race, every game could potentially vault the Regents into the final playoff spot, or it could knock the Regents out of the race. The Edgewood College Eagles, who have already secured a spot in the conference tournament, came to Rockford Saturday afternoon looking to play spoiler and to avenge an earlier 79-63 loss to the Regents. The Regents, down 47-33 at halftime, needed a big second half in order to avoid a crushing loss to the Eagles.
The score was pretty even for the first seven minutes of the first half. Edgewood started to pull away at about the 13:34 mark. The Eagles slowly built a lead and played tough defense on the Regents. A three-pointer with four seconds left in the first half by Edgewood put them up 47-33. Keeping Rockford in the game offensively was Trae Blumhorst (Mendota, Ill.) who made 14 points in the first half. Rockford shot only 31% for the first half compared to Edgewood's 53%.
Edgewood maintained its double-digit point lead until John O'Bryan (Richmond, Ky.) hit a three-pointer at 8:49 to put the score at 64-55 Edgewood. The Eagles pushed back and at the 2:37 mark they held a 16 point lead, seemingly putting the game out of reach for the Regents. But Rockford came alive thanks to an 8-0 run. Five points came from Blumhorst and three came from Michael Murray (Princeton, Ill.) during the run. The teams then traded free throws to put the score at 76-67 Edgewood with 1:03 left in the game.
Three seconds later freshman Hunter Blake (Belvidere, Ill.) hit a huge three-pointer to get Rockford closer. Edgewood then made another pair of free throws. On the next possession, O'Bryan made another big three-pointer to put the score at 78-73 with 53 seconds left in the game. Edgewood again made a pair of free throws and again Rockford struck back, this time Blumhorst with a layup. Rockford fouled the Eagles but this time Edgewood missed both free throws and Murray made a quick layup to bring the score to 80-77 with 30 seconds left in the game. That would be as close as Rockford got and fell 84-77 to Edgewood.
Blumhorst led Rockford with 23 points. He added in 10 rebounds for a double-double. Murray scored 22 points and led Rockford with 11 rebounds for another double-double off of the bench. Also in double-digit scoring were O'Bryan with 13 and Zach Wallace (Rockford, Ill.) with 10. O'Bryan had six assists and four steals.
Despite the loss, Rockford is not yet out of the conference tournament. There is one final spot left in the conference tournament and it is currently held by Wisconsin Lutheran, who has a 1.5 game lead on the Regents. Rockford has two games left while Wisconsin Lutheran has three. Rockford travels to Wisconsin Lutheran for its next game on February 14 at 4:15 p.m.
