LISLE, Ill. -
Jaden Bell drained his second game-winning basket of the season on Saturday, this one from three-point range at the buzzer, to give Rockford a 67-64 road win against the Benedictine University Eagles. Statistically the game was extremely tight in almost every category. The Regents and Eagles both made 24 shots from the field, including six each from three-point range. However, Rockford took six more free throws and made three of them, to take a crucial three-point edge at the charity stripe. The Regents' biggest advantage came in the form of rebounding, as Rockford absolutely destroyed the Eagles on the glass. Rockford outrebounded Benedictine 45-25, including a commanding 19-5 advantage in offensive rebounds. All those offensive rebounds also led to a critical 21-9 edge in second chance points. The win snaps a two-game losing streak to Benedictine and gives Rockford a chance to sweep the season series against the Eagles later in the year for the first time since the 2005-06 season.
- Rockford quickly fell behind 6-0, but then got back-to-back threes from Noody Lacey and Matthew Elliott to knot the game at 6-6.
- Cooper Jackson would give the Regents their first lead of the game at 10-8 following a pair of free throws with 15:48 left in the first half.
- The game continued to go back and forth with the Eagles retaking the lead at 13-12 on a Tanner Resch triple just over three minutes later.
- Benedictine built its lead up to as many as four points before Rockford cut it back down to one on a Jaden Bell jumper at the 6:10 mark.
- After Cooper Jackson gave Rockford a 26-25 lead with 3:59 left in the half, there were three ties and three lead changes over the next two minutes.
- However, the Eagles closed the half on a 5-0 run to take a 37-31 lead into the break.
- Rockford opened the second half on a 7-2 run, capped off by a Jaden Bell triple, to get back to within a single point at 39-38.
- The Eagle advantage hovered around four points over the next several minutes, until the Regents scored four straight to tie the game for the first time since late in the first half. Micah Swanson and Noody Lacey connected on back-to-back layups make it a 48-48 game.
- With the game now tied at 53-53, Micah Swanson made yet another layup to put his team back in front for the first time since the two minute mark in the opening half of the game.
- Rockford extended its lead to a game-high five points on several occasions, the latter coming a pair of Seth Childers free throws to make it 64-59 with 3:32 left.
- Unfortunately, Benedictine scored the next five points to tie the game at 64-64 at the 1:55 mark.
- The two teams combined for just one shot attempt over the next one minute and 50 seconds as the game remained tied.
- After the Regents forced a shot clock violation with four seconds left, Rockford got the ball with one final chance to win the game in regulation.
- Jaden Bell took the inbound pass in the backcourt and dribbled all the way to the three-point line where connected on a triple with a pair of Eagle defenders in his face to secure a thrilling 67-64 road victory.
- Jaden Bell led Rockford with 15 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal.
- Micah Swanson added 12 points, 7 rebounds and a game-high 5 assists.
- Anthony Espensen narrowly missed his first double-double with 9 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks and a steal off the bench.
- Matthew Elliott had 9 points and 7 rebounds off the bench.
