ROCKFORD, Ill. - Marian University men's basketball (1-6, 1-2 NACC) fell on the road by an 87-80 final to Rockford in NACC action.

The opening half was back-and-forth with both teams going on runs with neither team holding a comfortable lead.  A layup from freshman Matt Hickey put Marian behind 33-31 with 1:54 left in the half before the Regents scored eight unanswered to take a 41-31 advantage at the half.

The Regents slowly pulled away eventually leading by as much as 17 at 63-46 with 12:22 left to play.  The Sabres then began to rally slowly chipping away bringing their deficit down to nine with 2:29 left.  This would be as close as Marian would manage, however, with three points in the final 14 seconds from MU bringing the final score to 87-80.

The Sabre offense had a strong night finishing the game 28-52 (.538) from the field including an 80-percent shooting performance from the charity stripe, 20-25.

Off the bench, Hickey had the best performance of his young Sabre career with a game-high 20 points.  Junior Justin Wilson added 19 points to go with seven rebounds.

Marian returns home to take on Lakeland Saturday, Dec. 7 for a 2 p.m. tip in NACC action.