Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Martin Luther College’s Ben Pearson dribbles to the hoop while guarded by Rockford University’s Tre Miller during a DIII men’s college basketball game Friday at MLC.

NEW ULM — In the first regular season men’s college basketball game of his career, New Ulm native Ben Pearson made all the right decisions in the closing seconds of a nonconference season opener with the Rockford University Regents.

Rockford was able to spoil Pearson’s homecoming and debut with the Martin Luther College Knights in the end, however, as Pearson’s 3-point shot to beat the buzzer and force overtime rolled around the rim and out to help Rockford hold on for an 83-80 win.

After a pair of free throws from Jaden Bell put Rockford up 83-80 with 4.2 seconds left, Knights head coach Greg Holzhueter took a timeout to draw up a play.

Pearson, a 2024 Minnesota Valley Lutheran grad, was forced to switch things up, however. Despite a good look at a 3, his shot was unable to drop as the Regents escaped with the victory.

“We wanted the ball in his hands for sure, but actually we had something drawn up to have him make a crosscourt pass, and he made the right read because he realized we didn’t have the time to throw it crosscourt,” Holzhueter said of Pearson. “And he got a really good shot off, I told him it was the perfect decision, and it went in and out, too, so the quality look.

“He did exactly what he needed to do there to execute down the stretch. I told him I can’t wait for the next time he’s in that situation when he hits it, because he’s the type of guy, he’s going to hit those shots for us.”

While it was Pearson’s first regular season game with the Knights and he finished with 16 points, he shared the stage with two other freshmen that also made some big plays in their first game. One of them was the game’s scoring leader in Appleton, Wisconsin’s Adam Loberger, who finished with 38 points on 13-of-29 shooting.

Watertown, Wisconsin’s Benjamin Vasold was the other freshman for the Knights to make one big play in particular, a corner 3 with less than three minutes to put the Knights up 76-73. Vasold finished with 7 points.

After Vasold’s 3, however, Rockford answered with three consecutive buckets to lead 79-76 with 1:02 left on the clock. Loberger got a pair of free throws to have MLC down 79-78, but Tre Miller and Cooper Jackson each had a free throw to make it a 3-point game.

Miller and Jackson each led the Regents with 19 points, while Micah Swanson added 13 points and Bell had 10.

MLC had a chance to tie it with less than seven seconds to play when Luke Fix grabbed a rebound and scored while drawing a foul, but his free throw missed and led to Bell’s two free throws which set up Pearson’s last-second attempt at a 3.

Fix finished with 10 points, while Ethan Kjenstad finished with 7 points and a team-high eight rebounds.

“I think we all agreed in the locker room after the game that there’s a lot of confidence in this team that even if we’re down 12 or 13, we’re not out of the game,” Holzhueter said. “I think that was the maturity that we showed tonight and that stems from last week’s [exhibition] games, especially Wednesday night when we were in a similar situation, the guys just kept battling and eventually took the lead and we held the lead in that one. [Today] we didn’t, but we’ll learn from it and get the next one.”

While Pearson’s first collegiate point came on a free throw with 11:15 left in the first half, Loberger scored early and often for the Knights and paced the team with 24 points at the half. The Knights fell behind 22-9 with 12:41 left in the first half, but back-to-back Loberger 3s had the Knights down 29-24 with a little more than seven minutes left in the half. A free throw by Kjenstad had MLC down just 3, 35-32, but Rockford ended the half up 41-35.

The Knights fell behind 13 again early in the second half, 48-35, before again mounting a comeback. Loberger converted on an and-one with 6:53 to play to give the Knights a 66-65 lead, their first lead of the game.

“We had a couple of possessions that maybe weren’t quality possessions, but generally speaking, we just missed our shots down the stretch and [Rockford] made their shots and made plays down the stretch,” Holzhueter said.

Holzhueter said he was still happy with how his team executed despite the loss and he was especially happy with the play of his three freshmen starters in Loberger, Pearson and Vasold.

“I think it’s really rare to have three freshmen that are college ready … they’re just the caliber of player that is ready to get on the floor and compete at the next level,” Holzhueter said. “So that’s really a tremendous asset for our team to have that.

“They still have a lot to learn and a lot of ways to improve, but they compete, their confident, they make plays for us, they’re not shy to take a big shot, so that’s huge for us. I can’t wait to see these guys grow and develop over the course of the season and over the course of four years, too, it’s going to be a lot of fun with them.”

Rockford outshot MLC 43.8%-42.9% and won the battle on the boards 38-33.

Before heading back to Illinois, Rockford (1-0) has a pair of exhibition games on its schedule and will be at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas on Thursday. The Knights (0-1) travel to Winona for a nonconference game with Saint Mary’s University on Tuesday night.