MADISON, Wis. - The RU men's basketball team won for the second time this week with a 76-65 road victory over the Edgewood College Eagles. The game was close for much of the afternoon as Rockford led by just 3 points entering halftime. However, Rockford began to take control of the game in the second half as the Regents trailed for a total of just 22 seconds and held off the Eagles upset bid. One of the keys to victory was Rockford's ability to rebound the basketball. The Regents absolutely dominated the boards outrebounding the Eagles 61-to-36. With the win, the Regents have a half game lead for fifth place over MSOE and Wisconsin Lutheran as well as for a berth in NACC Tournament with just three conference games remaining.
The first half was fairly low scoring for the Regents as they were never quite able to get going offensively. Rockford fell behind early as the Eagles knocked down their first two shot attempts of the game jumping out to a 5-0 lead. The Regents promptly responded with a 7-0 run of their own capped off by a three-pointer from Ryan Fiorucci (Machesney Park, Ill.) to take their first lead of the day. The two teams would go back-and-forth taking turns sharing the lead until midway through the half when freshman Ben Temrowski (Rochester, Mich.) drained a pair of three-point baskets to give his team a six-point advantage. Rockford would push its lead to as many as nine points following a Brandon Tyson (Joliet, Ill.) jumper with 6:46 remaining. Unfortunately the Eagles closed the half strong with a 15-9 run to pull back with three heading into halftime.
The second half opened in identical fashion to the first before Rockford was ultimately able to take control down the stretch. The Eagles again score the first five points of the half to retake the lead at 39-37. Rockford would however answer back with an 11-2 run led by five points from forward Zach Wallace (Rockford, Ill.) to jump back in front. The Regents continued to build upon their lead over the next few minutes until senior John O'Bryan (Richmond, Ky.) drained a 3-pointer with just over 10 minutes remaining to give his team its largest lead of the afternoon at 57-45. Edgewood would not go away without a fight though as the Eagles scored the next eight points to get back within four. Fortunately for Rockford senior O'Bryan responded by scoring four straight points of his own to push the lead back to eight. Edgewood never really threatened for the remainder of the game as the Regents made enough free throws down the stretch to seal the 76-65 victory.
Zach Wallace led the way for Rockford with his sixth double-double of the season. He scored 15 points, grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds and blocked 5 shots. Wallace is now second in the NACC with 51 blocks this season and within 14 of tying the Rockford University school record for blocks in a year set back in the 2005-06 season.
Senior point guard Ross Arteaga (Mendota, Ill.) was the game's leading scorer on Saturday. Arteaga poured in 16 points on 5-of-11 shooting while also adding 7 rebounds and 7 assists.
John O'Bryan and Tony Diemer (Rockford, Ill.) were the other two Regents in double-figures. O'Bryan had a good all-around game with 14 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Diemer recorded his second double-double in the last three games tallying 10 points and 11 rebounds.
The RU men's basketball team returns to the court on Tuesday, February 9 at home against Illinois Tech. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. in the Seaver Center.
