Box Score
MADISON, Wis. – Fans that watched the Edgewood College men's basketball team take on Rockford College were lucky they didn't leave the Edgedome with a few bruises themselves since it seemed almost every player on the floor did. The Eagles fought through the physical play and came away with well deserved 87-74 victory.
Jeff Barczak started the contest just like he left finished on Thursday, on fire. He scored the Eagles' (12-11, 9-6 NAC) first six points and eight of their first 10 before being hampered by foul trouble. However, Barczak still finished the contest with a game and career-high 27 points, with 19 coming in the second half. On the night, he was 9-for-11 from the field and 9-for-10 from the free throw line. It was his second career-high performance in as many games as he had 24 points Maranatha Baptist on Thursday.
The first half was played at a frenetic pace as there were 13 ties and eight lead changes and neither team led by more than four points. After the fifth tie of the contest, Kent Faurote drilled a pair of free throws and Ben Wisniewski hit a jumper to put the Eagles up 21-17. The Regents (12-11, 7-8 NAC) came back to tie the score and took a slim one point advantage on a pair of Robert Malone free throws with 9:23 to play in the half.
With the score tied and the shot clock off, the Eagles held for the last shot. Wisniewski made a nice spin move at the free throw line and got fouled on his way up with 1.3 seconds left. He drained both free throws to give Edgewood College a 39-37 lead at halftime.
The final tie of the game came at 43 with 15:43 to go and the Regents took their final lead of the game just over a minute later at 47-46. At the point, Andrew Cobb sparked a 7-0 Edgewood College run with a jump shot to pull the Eagles ahead for good.
Edgewood College separated themselves behind stellar free throw shooting as they connected on eight consecutive attempts spanning five possessions over a two minute stretch during the middle of the frame. Shortly after, senior Aaron Ritschard gave the Eagles their largest lead of the game at 16 points with jump shot. In his final regular season home game, Ritschard tallied four points and four assists.
The Regents cut the deficit to 11 points five times over the final five and a half minutes, but they could not get over the hump as the Eagles took the hard earned 87-74 victory. The Eagles shot a blistering 51 percent (26-for-51) from the floor and a season-best 79.5 percent (31-for-39) from the charity stripe. Rockford also shot 30 free throws in the contest as they went 23-30 from the line or 76.7 percent.
For Edgewood College, Wisniewski tallied 19 points while Cobb was the only other Eagle to reach double figures with 12 points. Faurote tied a career-high with 10 rebounds to go along with nine points. Robert Malone led the Regents with 26 points while Danny Armelin poured in 21 points of his own.
The Eagles got an extra bonus on Saturday when Maranatha Baptist upset first place Concordia University Wisconsin 63-61. Those results set up a Northern Athletics Conference North Division title game on Tuesday night when Eagles face the Falcons at Buuck Fieldhouse. Broadcast links for the 7:00 p.m. tipoff can be found on EdgewoodCollegeEagles.com.
