MILWAUKEE, Wis. - The Rockford University men's basketball team lost its sixth straight game to open the season on Saturday by a final score of 76-62 to the Wisconsin Lutheran College Warriors. The Regents hung with the Warriors for the majority of the first half but were ultimately hurt by their 18 turnovers, which led to 25 WLC points. Conversely, Rockford was only able to score 8 points off 12 Wisconsin Lutheran turnovers.  

The game got off to a great start for the Regents as sophomore Tony Diemer (Rockford, Ill.) connected on his first two shots, to put his team out in front 4-0. The two schools then traded baskets until the 16:52 mark when WLC drained the game's first three-pointer giving Wisconsin Lutheran its first lead of the afternoon at 9-6. The Warrior lead would hover around 4 points for next ten minutes thanks in part to the outstanding play of RU senior Zach Wallace (Rockford, Ill.). Wallace carried the Rockford offense for much of the first half scoring 14 of the team's 32 points. However in spite of his herculean effort, it was the Warriors who put together an 8-0 run beginning at the 8:20 mark allowing Wisconsin Lutheran to grab its first double-digit lead of the game. Rockford would then cut the lead back down to five points before the Warriors closed the half on a 4-0 run to take a 41-32 advantage into the intermission. 

Unfortunately the second half belonged to the Warriors as Rockford never really threatened. Wisconsin Lutheran led by double-digits for almost the entire half pushing its lead to as many as 19 points on multiple occasions. Despite the large deficit, the Regents continued to fight and slowly chipped away at the WLC lead until it was down to just 11 points. This time it was Tony Diemer who led the charge in the second half scoring 14 of Rockford's 30 points. However, the Warriors promptly responded with a 4-0 run to extend their lead back to 15 points and ultimately secure a 76-62 victory. 

Rockford was again led by the duo of Tony Diemer and Zach Wallace. Diemer scored a team-high 20 points with 7 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal. Wallace added 16 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks and 1 steal.

The RU men's basketball team continues its four-game road trip on Tuesday, December 6 at Concordia University Wisconsin. Tip-off is set for 7:00 PM.