Just two losses separate the first and seventh place teams in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference men's basketball standings, and the Benedictine University Eagles are right in the middle of the mix. At 8-6 overall and 6-3 in conference play, BenU currently sits in third place. Benedictine will have a chance to distance themselves a bit from the pack with three NACC contests on this week's schedule: Rockford University at home on Tuesday, at Dominican University on Thursday, and at Marian University on Saturday.
 
Benedictine split a pair of conference games this past week, defeating 4-7 Wisconsin Lutheran College 73-57 on the road on Wednesday night before falling to 6-4 Concordia University Wisconsin 82-72 on Saturday. As a team, the Eagles shot 47% in the two contests while holding opponents to just 38.6%. Forward Adam Reynolds put together two strong performances, accumulating 24 points and 12 rebounds on the week.
  
With a 2-7 NACC record, ninth-place Rockford is one game behind 4-7 Wisconsin Lutheran for the eighth and final NACC Tournament qualifying seed. While the Regents are on a three-game losing streak, the team has shown it can play well against some of the NACC's top teams, defeating 6-4 Edgewood College 79-63 on the road on December 20. Rockford's other two wins came at home against Dominican on December 2 (89-73) and at non-conference foe Illinois Institute of Technology (64-51) on December 17.
 
Rockford boasts one of the conference's most dynamic players in junior guard John O'Bryan. After averaging 7.0 points per game in a bench role last season, O'Bryan has developed into the NACC's second leading scorer at 19.7 points per game. The Kentucky native is also second in the conference in three-point attempts (7.2 per game) and seventh in three-point field percentage (42.6%).
 
The Eagles defeated Rockford in both meetings last season. Benedictine won on the road 86-79 behind a 22 point game from Tim McGinty and 52 total points in the second half. At home, the Eagles won 86-62, holding Rockford to 33% shooting and receiving strong contributions from McGinty (16 points, 10 rebounds) and Michael Blaszczyk (17 points). Rockford's last win in the series came at home during the 2011-12 season, as the team has not won in Lisle since the 2009-2010 campaign.
  
Two seasons ago, Dominican was the third seed in the NACC Tournament and fell to eventual champion Aurora University by just four points in the tournament's semifinal round. The Stars have fallen on hard times since, compiling a 5-35 overall and 4-26 conference record over the past year and a half. This season, Dominican has recorded just one win, a 66-65 victory over seventh-place Milwaukee School of Engineering on December 13. The team will play at Concordia University Chicago on Tuesday before squaring off against BenU on Thursday.
 
Dominican possesses a very young team with just one senior and one junior on the roster. Sophomore guard Josh Mayberry has established himself as one of the top rising stars in the conference, as he's followed up his NACC All-Freshman team campaign with a solid 15.1 points, (tied for sixth in the NACC), 5.1 rebounds, and 1.6 steals per game (tied for fifth in the NACC). On the coaching staff, Matt Nelson, who served as an assistant under Kristen Gillespie for the Benedictine women's basketball program, now assists Mark White for Dominican's men's team.
 
Benedictine topped the Stars twice last season, winning 68-54 at home and 83-59 on the road. In Lisle, the Eagles held DU to just 34% percent shooting as Blaszczyk (17 points) and McGinty (15 points, 10 rebounds) led BenU statistically. McGinty also turned in a strong performance in River Forest, scoring 16 points to lead the Eagles. Dominican took both meetings the year prior, winning 84-79 in Lisle and 69-68 in River Forest.
  
After winning the NACC Regular Season and Tournament championships last season, Marian has another strong team in 2014-15. Currently in fourth place in the conference, the Sabres put together an impressive 70-46 win at Rockford on Saturday to snap a five-game losing streak, the program's longest in three seasons. Like the Eagles, Marian will also play three games this week, taking on CUW at home and Lakeland College on the road ahead of Saturday's matchup.
 
Sophomore forward Montrell Hobbs, who is second on the team with 9.8 points per game, has been on a tear recently. Since moving to the starting lineup three games ago, Hobbs is averaging 11.3 points per game while shooting 68.1% from the field. Hobbs' scoring outburst has helped the Sabres work through the struggles of Josh Creed, as the NACC's eighth leading scorer (14.4 per game) has shot just 37.9% over the last six contests and is coming off of a season-low two points and 14 minutes against Rockford.
 
The Eagles and Sabres met on January 3, with BenU prevailing 80-70 in Lisle to move ahead of Marian in the standings. The Eagles jumped out to a 50-34 halftime lead and staved off a late Marian run to seal the victory. Blaszczyk and John Dodson each scored 15 points, and Marian shot 56.3% in the loss.