CHICAGO, Ill. - The Rockford University men's basketball team grabbed a huge 78-67 road win on Wednesday night at Illinois Tech. The game was extremely close throughout despite what the final score might indicate. There were a total of six ties and nine lead changes with neither team leading by double figures until late in the second half. Defensively, the Regents had one of their best performances of the season. Rockford held Illinois Tech to just 38.9% shooting and crushed the Scarlet Hawks 46-29 on the boards. The Regents also continued their remarkable turnaround at the free throw over the past couple of games by going a stellar 22-of-28 at the charity stripe in the win. Rockford has now won three of the last four meetings against Illinois Tech.

• Illinois Tech took a 9-2 lead, its largest of the night, just over 3 minutes into the game. 
• Rockford quickly went on a 6-0 run over the next 2:27 to cut the Illinois Tech lead down to a single point at 9-8. Anthony Espensen got things started with a jumper and then DeVon Oregon scored the next four points. 
• The Regents would eventually take their first lead of the game at 14-13 with 11:09 left in the half on a Matthew Elliott made layup.
• The game went back and forth over the next 2:20 with two ties and a pair of lead changes. Rockford then scored eight consecutive points, led by five from Anthony Espensen, to take its largest lead thus far at 28-22. 
• The Regents built their lead up to as many as eight following a Cooper Jackson made jumper, before Illinois Tech made a run to close the half.
• The Scarlet Hawks outscored the Regents 10-2 to tie the game at 34-34 with 22 seconds left in the first half. 
• Fortunately, Micah Swanson ended the half with a pair of free throws to give his team a 36-34 lead heading into the break.
• The opening seven minutes and 37 seconds of the second half featured three ties and six lead changes. The final of those came on a Jaden Bell made triple at the 13:23 mark. 
• Rockford scored the next seven points, extending their run to 10-0, to take a 59-51 lead midway through the second half.
• The Scarlet Hawks cut the RU lead down to four a couple of times, but Rockford essentially put the game out of reach following the second such occasions when Rockford scored the next 12 points to seize control of the game. Four different Regents found the bottom of the net during the run, led by four points from Noody Lacey and Jaden Bell, to make it a 73-57 lead with just over four minutes left. 
• Illinois Tech never got any closer than ten the rest of the way as Rockford cruised to a 78-67 victory.

• Anthony Espensen set RU career-highs with 18 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. He rounded out his night with 4 assists and 1 steal.
• Jaden Bell had 13 points, 5 rebounds and a block.
• Micah Swanson tallied his third double-double in the last five games and his fourth overall this year. He finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block and a steal.
• DeVon Oregon added 10 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 assists. 

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