MADISON, Wis. – Edgewood College turned the ball over a season-low seven times on Saturday against the Regents at the Edgedome but struggled rebounding in a 76-65 loss. The Eagles led early on and briefly in the beginning of the second half before Rockford hovered around a 10-point lead the rest of the way, dropping Edgewood College's record to 2-19 overall and 2-14 in the NACC.
Freshman guard McClain Steffens scored a quick five points on the team's first two possessions of the game to grab the early lead. The Regents then went on a 7-0 run capped by Ryan Fiorucci's three-pointer to give Rockford the lead.
No team would lead by more than six points until the 7:26 mark after John O'Bryan nailed a jumper for the Regents to go up 26-19. The Regents scored again on their next possession to go up nine but Adam Freitag snapped the drought for the Eagles by burying a three to make it 28-22. The Eagles would then hit four-straight shots to cut the deficit to four at 35-31 with 3:06 remaining. One more triple from Spencer Barnes at the 1:58 mark made it 37-34 and no team would score the rest of the half.
Steffens hit a big shot again at the beginning of the second half on another triple and Emil Radisevic converted on a layup two possessions later to give the Eagles another taste of a lead at 39-37. The Regents would respond by going on a 20-6 run over the next nine minutes to grab a convincing 57-45 lead with 10:37 left.
The Eagles shot back with an 8-0 run with buckets from four different players. Moments later, Tyler Westrick hit a three-pointer to make it 58-53 Regents but Ross Arteaga would answer with one of his own. Rockford would lead by as many as eight points the rest of the way.
Two of Edgewood College's double-digit scoring efforts came from the bench in Arik Anderson (11) and Westrick (11). Freitag led the team with 15 on 5-of-10 shooting, including a 4-of-7 mark from deep. Steffens and Spencer Barnes both finished with eight while Steffens hauled in a career-high nine boards. Sy Staver had his fourth-straight game with at least five assists after recording six on the day alongside no turnovers.
Rockford had three players with at least 10 rebounds as the Regents outrebounded the Eagles 61-36. Arteaga finished with 16 points while Zach Wallace had 15 points and 16 boards.
The Eagles are on the road twice next week. They will take on Marian on Tuesday, Feb. 9 at 7 pm and then No. 3 Benedictine University on Saturday, Feb. 13 at 2 pm.
