ROCKFORD, Ill. - Playing on the road for the third time in the first four contests of the season, the 12th-ranked Benedictine University men's basketball team debuted as a ranked team by opening conference play with an 89-79 win at Rockford University.

FINAL SCORE
Benedictine 89, Rockford 79

THE DETAILS
• Facing a vastly improved Rockford squad, Benedictine fell behind by seven points in the opening 20 minutes of action
• Adam Reynolds dropped in a layup to hand Benedictine a 6-5 lead with 17:48 to play in the first before Rockford scored six straight to lead 11-6
• Tim Reamer tied the score at 18 with a layup at the 11:57 mark of the half but Rockford responded with a quick 10-3 run to jump ahead 28-21
• Benedictine struck for 10 consecutive points, finished on a Tahron Harvey bucket, as the visitors jumped ahead 31-28 and went on to lead by seven at the half by a 46-39 count
• Reynolds deposited a jumper just over a minute into the second half, putting Benedictine ahead by double figures at 50-39
• The lead would reach 16 on two occasions in the second half at 71-55 following a triple from Michael Blaszczyk and again at 74-58 after Reamer completed a three-point play created on a dunk
• Rockford hung around, but could not pull closer than nine points the remainder of the game

FROM THE COACH
"This was another great road win against a vastly improved opponent," head coach Keith Bunkenburg said. "We did a great job of distributing the ball, and I am very proud of our effort."

STAT LEADERS
• For the second consecutive contest all five starters reached double figures
• Blaszczyk drained five three-pointers and led Benedictine with 21 points, his second game with more than 20 points this season
• Harvey finished with 17 points and added six assists while John Dodson tallied 14 to go with four assists
• Luke Johnson collected the first double-double of the year for a Benedictine player by scoring 12 and grabbing 11 boards and also accumulated five assists with four blocks
• Reynolds also cracked double figures by picking up 10 as the starting five scored 74 total points
• Benedictine dished out a season high 22 assists in the game and held a 42-37 edge on the glass
• Benedictine shot 58.6 percent in the second half to pull away, finishing with a 51.4 percent clip
• Benedictine connected on 10 three-pointers for the third time this season

UP NEXT
Benedictine (4-0, 1-0 NACC), currently holding the highest ranking in the existence of the D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll in school history, play at home on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. against Marian University