The Riverland men’s basketball team lost its fifth game in a row to No. 2 ranked Rochester Community and Technical College 75-60 in Riverland Gym Saturday.

The Blue Devils (12-12 overall, 3-7 MCAC South) hung with the Yellowjackets (24-1 overall, 9-1 MCAC South) for the entire first half and they led 45-39 after DeAaron Hearn drilled a three with 17:18 left in the game.

From that point, RCTC’s Chaz Sharp took control as he scored eight points during a 12-0 Yellowjacket run.

“We got a little carried away becauase we were hitting shots early in the second half, then all of the sudden guys want to step up and start hitting,” RCC head coach Dan Swift said. “There’s a reason that they’ve lost one game. Everything we came with, they had an answer for.”

After trailing by as many 17, the Blue Devils crawled back to within 71-60, but Hearn, who scored 28 points and had four assists, missed a deep three that would’ve cut it to single digits with three minutes left.

RCC lost to RCTC 39 earlier this season, but Swift isn’t interested in moral victories.

“Moral victories are not victories,” he said. “Our guys played hard and they played well. We’ve improved the last couple of games which is good because we have guys that are coming back next year and some of our sophomores will be playing somewhere else next year.”

RCTC’s Joe Beck controlled the game inside as he finished with 15 points, 15 rebounds and six blocked shots.

RCTC 35 40 — 75

RCC 36 24 — 60

RCC scoring: DeAaron Hearn, 28; Nicco Montgomery, 13; Chris Jahr, 8; Josh Davis, 5; Denzel Smith, 4; Andrw Birdsong, 2; field goals: 32 percent (23-for-71); three-pointers: 24 percent (5-for-21); free throws: 53 percent (9-for-17); rebounds: 49 (Davis, 11); turnovers: 24

RCTC scoring: Joe Beck, 15; Torren Dowdy, 15; Al Tillman, 13; Chaz Sharp, 12; David Fritsch, 10; Colin Kurk, 4; Aristede Bratchett, 2; Joe Conway, 2; Brett Hungerholt, 2; field goals: 42 percent (35-for-83); three-pointers: 18 percent (3-for-17); free throws: 33 percent (2-for-6); rebounds: 53 (Beck, 15); turnovers: 18