CHICAGO, Ill. - The Rockford University men's basketball team earned the #4 seed in the 2024 NACC Tournament despite falling 75-67 on Saturday afternoon at Illinois Tech. The game was extremely close from start to finish, as it featured a total of 12 lead changes and 8 ties. The two biggest differences in the game came at the three-point and free throw lines. The Scarlet Hawks connected on three more triples and nine more free throws than the Regents, which ultimately turned out to be the difference. However, because of the outcomes of the other games around the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference today, Rockford would have still be the fourth seed regardless of the outcome of its game. The Regents will now turn their attention to the NACC Tournament where Rockford will host Concordia University Wisconsin in a quarterfinal game on Tuesday, February 20 at 7 PM in the Seaver Center.
- After Illinois Tech scored the opening basket of the game, Rockford scored the next seven points to take its first lead of the afternoon. The Regents made all three of their shot attempts over that span and were led by four points from Kevin Diemer and three from Jaden Bell.
- Rockford eventually built its lead up to as many as seven when Seth Childers knocked down a triple to make it 18-11 with 12:11 left in the first half.
- Illinois Tech slowly chipped away at the deficit until the Scarlet Hawks went on a 5-0 run late in the first half to take their first lead since the opening minutes of the game.
- The Regents were able to tie it twice over the final three minutes, but IIT's Andrew Veon drained the final bucket of the half to give his team a 35-33 advantage heading into the break.
- Following a few lead changes early in the second half, Rockford found itself down two with 13:39 left in the game.
- However, the Regents promptly went on a 9-2 run, bookended by a Seth Childers' layup to tie the game and a pair of Jaden Bell made free throws, to put Rockford back in front 51-45.
- Rockford's lead did not last long though, as there were seven lead changes over the next seven minutes and 29 seconds.
- The Scarlet Hawks then used a 7-0 spurt over a span of one minute and 21 seconds to take their largest lead thus far at 67-62 with 1:32 remaining.
- Unfortunately, Illinois Tech went a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line over the final 46 seconds to secure the 75-67 victory.
- Jaden Bell led the Regents with 18 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and a block.
- Micah Swanson added 15 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists. Swanson now has 998 career points and thus needs just 2 more to become the 27th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point milestone.
- Kevin Diemer had 14 points, 7 assists, 3 rebounds and a steal.
