RIVER FOREST, Ill. - The Rockford University men's basketball team (9-5, 3-4 NACC) returned to the court for the first time in eleven days on Wednesday evening to face the Concordia University Chicago Cougars (8-6, 6-3 NACC). Unfortunately, the Regents came out a bit rusty in the first half and dug themselves into a 20-point hole that they were never quite able to recover from. The Regents were able to get as close as ten late in the second half, but it was not enough, as Rockford fell by a final score of 86-76. The stats for the two teams were nearly identical, with the exception of the Cougars making five more shot attempts and holding a slight 49.3% to 43.9% edge in shooting percentage. One extremely bright spot in the game came courtesy of senior Brandon Emerick. Emerick scored 18 points, went 4-of-9 from three-point range and broke the Rockford University career three-point attempts record (670). He is now also just 23 made triples away from tying the RU career made three-pointers record. 

• The game was actually very close and competitive for the first ten minutes of the first half. 
• Brandon Emerick scored the first bucket of the game to give Rockford a quick 2-0 lead just 5 seconds in. 
• Concordia Chicago then used a 5-0 run over a 24 second span to take their first lead of the game at 5-2. 
• Emerick would subsequently tie the game at 5-5 on the very next possession with his first of four triples of the evening. 
• The game continued to go back and forth until CUC grabbed a nine-point lead with 13:29 left in the first half. 
• Rockford's Ashton Singleton responded with back-to-back threes to cut the Cougar lead back down to three at 17-14. 
• With Concordia Chicago still clinging to a three-point lead and less than 10 minutes left in the half, the Cougars went on a 10-0 run over a span of 2:03 to make it a 29-16 game. 
• CUC would build its lead up to as many as 20 points, before entering the half with a 45-27 advantage. 
• Unfortunately, things really did not get much better for Rockford in the second half. Each time Rockford began to slightly cut into the Cougar lead, CUC responded right back and pushed their advantage back to or near 20 points. 
• With CUC still leading by 17 and less than six minutes left in the game, Rockford made one final push down the stretch. 
• Rockford scored 12 of the next 17 points to make it 79-69 with 2:09 remaining. TJ Lacey led the way with 7 points, including a triple to cap off the run. Brandon Emerick and Jaden Bell chipped in 3 and 2 points respectively. 
• Unfortunately, that was as close as Rockford would get, with Concordia Chicago coming out on top by a final score of 86-76.

• Brandon Emerick finished with a team-high 18 points, 1 rebound and 1 steal. Emerick also went 4-of-9 from three-point range and broke the Rockford University career three-point attempts record (670).
• TJ Lacey had 15 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals. 
• Micah Swanson tallied his sixth double-double of the season. He finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds and 1 block. 
• Jaden Bell added 13 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist. 
• Vincent Eugene had 5 points, 11 rebounds and 3 assists off the bench. 

The RU men's basketball team returns to the court on Saturday, January 22 at MSOE. Tip-off is set for 4:15 PM.