CHICAGO, Ill. - The Rockford University men's basketball team won 66-62 at Illinois Tech on Saturday afternoon to secure its third straight trip to the NACC Tournament. Rockford will enter the postseason as the No. 6 seed and will play at No. 3 seed Marian University on Wednesday, February 22 at 7 PM. Although the Regents trailed for the majority of the game against the Scarlet Hawks, Rockford rallied late in the second half to pick up the victory. The Regents outscored Illinois Tech 13-6 over the final 4:20, including a 6-2 run to finish the game.
Kevin Diemer scored four straight points with the game tied at 60-60, and then
Mateo Fernandez Solari sealed the win on a pair of made free throws with six seconds remaining.
- Rockford shot just 39.3% in the first half, but played solid defense and held the Scarlet Hawks to only 32 points over the first twenty minutes.
- The Regents took their first and only lead of the first half at 9-7 on a Micah Swanson layup at the 15:32 mark.
- Illinois Tech then proceeded to go on a 9-2 run and take the largest lead thus far for either team at 16-11.
- The Scarlet Hawks pushed their lead up to as many as eight points at 27-19 with 4:55 left in the first half.
- Rockford cut the lead back down to three on a Micah Swanson dunk, but Illinois Tech scored the final three points to take a 32-26 advantage into the half.
- The Regents found their groove offensively in the second half, shooting 46.4% (13-28) from the floor and and equally important 85.7% from the free throw line (12-14).
- Rockford scored the first five points of the period, including four from Noody Lacey, to pull back within a single point at 32-31.
- The Regents were able to tie the game on two separate occasions over the next four minutes, but Illinois Tech retook the lead each time.
- The Scarlet Hawks eventually went up by as many as six points with 9:21 left in regulation.
- Fortunately, the Regents promptly went on a 6-0 run over the next minute and a half to tie it at 51-51. Amareon Parker, Micah Swanson and Noody Lacey all had two points over that span.
- Rockford was finally able to retake the lead at 57-56 on Charles Burnell made layup with 3:38 remaining.
- With the game now tied at 60-60 and less than two minutes remaining, Rockford was able to find come clutch scoring and key defensive plays to secure the victory.
- Kevin Diemer got things started with a triple from the corner to put his team back in front 63-60.
- The RU defense then forced a turnover and Diemer knocked down a free throw to give the Regents a four-point lead with 25 seconds left.
- Rockford's defense led by an outstanding perimeter effort from Micah Swanson, forced Illinois Tech to run 17 seconds off the clock before making a layup and cutting the Regent lead back down to two points.
- Mateo Fernandez Solari then calmly stepped up to the line and made a pair of clutch free throws to put Rockford back out in front by four with only six seconds left.
- Micah Swanson would put the final nail in the coffin with a steal at midcourt, to secure Rockford's 66-62 win.
- Noody Lacey finished with a season-high 17 points on 7-of-15 shooting. He also had a team-high 9 rebounds, 1 block and 1 steal.
- Micah Swanson tallied 16 points on a 7-of-9 shooting performance. He rounded out his afternoon with 2 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block and 1 assist.
- Kevin Diemer added 12 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks and 1 steal.
- Charles Burnell had 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting, 4 assists and 1 rebound.
With the win, Rockford earned the No. 6 seed in the 2023 NACC Tournament and will play at No. 3 seed Marian University on Wednesday, February 22. Tip-off is set for 7 PM at Sadoff Gymnasium in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.
