MEQUON, Wis. - The Rockford University men's basketball team looked to win its second straight game on Saturday and remain in third place when the Regents hit the road to take on the Concordia University Wisconsin Falcons. It was the second meeting this season between the two teams as Rockford looked to avenge a 112-99 home loss to the Falcons in early December. Saturday's game was a much lower scoring affair than its predecessor as neither team crossed the 90-point threshold; however, it was once again the Falcons who came out on top 86-74. Concordia Wisconsin took advantage of season-high 31 Rockford turnovers and converted them into 34 Falcon points. The Falcons also used their depth to their advantage as they outscoring Rockford 50-9 in bench points.
The first half featured three big runs two coming from the Falcons and one courtesy of the Regents. Concordia Wisconsin got off to a fast start grabbing a 24-9 lead near the midway point of the first half. Rockford struggled to find any type of rhythm on offense as the Regents connected on just 4 of their first 16 shot attempts and turned the ball over 9 times. Fortunately, over the next five minutes the Regents began to click on all cylinders and answered with an 18-3 run of their own, tying the game at 27-27. The Regents scorched the nets making 7-of-9 shot attempts and were led by the duo of Ryan Fiorucci (Machesney Park, Ill.) and John O'Bryan (Richmond, Ky.). Fiorucci entered the game and promptly knocked down a pair of three-pointers giving Rockford the spark it so desperately needed. O'Bryan also scored six points including burying a three-pointer which tied the game. The game would stay fairly close for the remainder of the half; however, the Falcons were able to close on an 8-4 run to take a 39-35 lead into the intermission.
Concordia Wisconsin was in control for nearly the entire second half. However, junior forward Zach Wallace (Rockford, Ill.) was able to keep the game close in the opening moments of the period. Wallace came out the locker room on fire knocking down 3 of his first 4 shot attempts to score 6 of Rockford's first 8 points and keep his team within two, at 45-43. Unfortunately from that moment forward Concordia Wisconsin began to seize control of the game. The Falcons scored the next 12 points to give themselves a 14-point lead with just under 14 minutes remaining. Concordia Wisconsin's lead would hover around ten until the Falcons extended it to a game-high 16 points en route to an 86-74 victory.
Junior Zach Wallace was the star for the Regents as he scored over one-third of Rockford's points. Wallace poured in 26 points on 11-for-17 shooting and went 4-of-5 at the free throw line. He also grabbed 12 rebounds to record his second straight double-double and his forth overall this year. Wallace added 3 assists and 2 blocked shots to round out his stat line.
Michael Murray (Princeton, Ill.), John O'Bryan and Tony Diemer (Rockford, Ill.) were the other three Regents in double-figures. Murray tallied his 11th double-double of the season with 14 points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocks. Diemer scored 11 points with 9 rebounds and 3 assists while O'Bryan added 14 points.
Ryan Fiorucci gave Rockford a nice lift off the bench in the first half. Fiorucci tallied a career-high 9 points as he drained 3-of-4 shot attempts from beyond the arc. He also added 5 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 assists.
The RU men's basketball team returns to the court on Tuesday, January 26 at #4 Benedictine University. Tip-off is set for 7:00 PM.
