Mike Lizak's three broke an 80-80 tie with 1:52 to play and sparked a 9-2 run to finish off an 89-92 win for the Dominican University men's basketball team over the Rockford University Regents to open Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) play on Saturday evening in Rockford. Lizak led five bench players for Dominican with 12 points as the Stars' bench outscored the Rockford subs 40-28.
 
The Regents opened an early lead, using an 8-0 run that was capped by a three by Arthell Rosquist, to open a 12-4 lead with 14:54 to play in the first half.  After a pair of free throws by Dominican's Josh Mayberry, Rockford enjoyed their largest lead of the night at 16-6 when Tony Diemer scored two of his game-high 32 points with 13:39 to go in the first half.
 
Two minutes later it was the Stars' turn to go on a run with back-to-back threes by Mayberry and Nick LaVere followed by a Mayberry tip-in narrowing the Regents' lead down to one, 19-18, with 10:33 to play in the half.
 
Rockford built the lead back up to nine but a 21-8 run to close the half, including a pull-up jumper in the paint for Tim Robertson in the final ten seconds of the half put the Stars up 41-37 at the half.
 
The Stars continued to extend their lead over the first four minutes of the second half, taking their largest lead of the evening when Derek Steck and Kevin Mack knocked down back-to-back threes to open a 54-65 lead with 16:15 to play.
 
Six straight free throws by the Regents angled the lead back down to three before Connor Dartt nailed a three to extend the lead for the Stars back to six, 61-55, with under thirteen minutes to play.
 
Rockford continued to chip away at the Stars' lead, pulling within two, 65-63, when Ben Weber knocked down a three with 10:45 to play.  Less than two minutes later, another Weber three evened the score at 69-69, the first of three ties in the second half, with 8:58 to play.
 
Each time Rockford evened the score, Dominican answered to reclaim the lead.  A three by Lizak, one of three on the night for the seniors, gave the Stars a 72-69 lead with 8:39 to play.  After Rockford evened the score at 78-78, a layup by Mayberry put the Stars back up 80-78 with 2:32 to go.  Then after Mayberry fouled out with 2:18 to play and a pair of Rockford free throws, Lizak put the Stars back on top for good with another three-point jumper with 1:52 to play.
 
Dominican then sealed the victory with six points in the final minute, including a three by Dartt, a pair of Lizak free throws and a free throw for Mack while Rockford managed just two free throws over the final two minutes.
 
"We played hard," commented Mayberry following the win. "We didn't come out as strong as we should have but our bench guys came in and got us the lead at halftime and we finished strong."
 
"It was a good win, a big win," added Robertson. "Our defense got really big stops down the stretch and our bench made some really big shots."
 
Mayberry paced the Stars with 19 points on 5-for-8 shooting from the field and going a perfect 8-for-8 at the foul line despite being limited to a season-low 27 minutes with foul trouble.  Mayberry added five rebounds, five assists and a steal.
 
Robertson logged his second double-double of the season with 16 points and a game-high 15 rebounds, including five offensive boards as Dominican scored 20 second-chance points.  Lizak and Dartt added 12 and 11 respectively while Domenic Aiello added nine points and five assists in 26 minutes off of the bench.
 
As a team, the Stars shot 42 percent from the field and connected on 11 threes, their third straight game with double-digit threes.
 
Rockford was paced by Diemer's 32 points and 13 rebounds.  Weber added 18 while Trae Blumhorst and Kivontay Shaw chipped in 11 and ten respectively to round out four in double-figures scoring.  Zach Wallace, averaging 25.6 points per game entering today, was limited to just four points on 2-for-7 shooting.
 
Dominican, now 2-2 on the season, will go for their third straight victory on Wednesday when the Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks visit the Igini Sports Forum for a 7:00 p.m. tipoff.