ROCKFORD, Ill. – Rockford University pounded the boards to the tune of a plus-27 rebounding advantage in defeating the Lakeland University men's basketball team 99-79 Thursday night in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play.

The Regents outrebounded the Muskies 60-33 and had four players in double figures in rebounds in spoiling Lakeland's return to action after an 11-day break. The Muskies lost their first game of the new year and fourth straight overall, dropping to 6-6 overall and 4-3 in the NACC.

Rockford (5-7 overall, 4-3 NACC) never trailed in the game, building a 16-point lead in the early going and then pulling away again after Lakeland closed within two early in the second half.

The Regents made 6 of 8 three-point tries in the first half and 9 of 15 in the game (60.0%), and a triple by Brandon Emerick gave the hosts a 25-9 lead with 12 minutes, 12 seconds left in the first half.

The Muskies fought back with some long-range shooting of their own, with five threes in the final 4:47 of the first half, the final one from Carlos Campos (Jr.-Janesville, Wis.) closing the deficit to 53-48 at halftime. Garrett Duffin (Sr.-Princeton, Ill.) then hit from deep to start the second half and cut Rockford's lead to 53-51, but that was as close as Lakeland would get.

Rockford followed Duffin's three-pointer with nine straight points, and the Muskies never got closer than seven points the rest of the way. The Regents held a double-digit lead for the final 10 minutes of the game.

Campos scored 21 points to lead Lakeland, Shakur Jinad (Jr.-Chicago, Ill.) scored 18 and Deonte Carlton (Jr.-Green Bay, Wis.) added a season-high 10 points plus a team-high seven rebounds and four assists off the bench. Pat McDonald (Sr.-Port Washington, Wis.) also made his season debut, returning from injury to score five points and add four assists.

The Muskies shot 36.7%, making 29 of 79 shots. Lakeland also canned 13 three-pointers but needed 41 attempts to do so, shooting 31.7% from beyond the arc.

Tony Diemer led Rockford with 20 points and 10 rebounds and was one of five players scoring in double figures for his team. Three players finished with double-doubles, with Kivontay Shaw also scoring 17 and added 10 rebounds and Kevin Diemer adding 10 points plus 12 boards. The Regents shot 48.6% (36 of 74) and also made 18 of 22 from the free throw line (81.8%).

Lakeland will be right back on the court Saturday when it hosts Illinois Institute of Technology at 2 p.m. at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.