CHICAGO, Ill. – The Illinois Tech men’s basketball team earned another home victory on Saturday (12/15/18), defeating the Muskies of Lakeland College 74-55 in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) contest. The Scarlet Hawks (3-4, 2-3 NACC) never trailed, handing Lakeland (6-3, 4-1 NACC) its first conference loss.
How it Happened
- It was a hot start for both teams, with Ahmad Muhammad five early points helping Tech keep a slim lead.
- A spinning and-one layup for Anthony Mosley Jr. was one of the highlights of the contest, as the play gave Tech a 23-14 lead with 10:39 left in the half. The lead built thanks to Tech’s defense, which led Lakeland scoreless for a four-minute span.
- Lakeland was able to get into the double bonus with over six minutes left in the first half, but the Scarlet Hawks tempo negated that advantage. With Mosley Jr. pushing the pace, Tech ran its lead up to 14, 43-29, at the half. He engineered the run with 12 first-half points and five first-half assists.
- The tune changed to start the second half, as the Muskies went on a 7-0 run over the first 3:06, prompting a Todd Kelly timeout.
- The advantage dwindled to five before the Scarlet Hawks scored its first basket of the half thanks to an energy play from Ricardo Whitehead. Capriest Gardnerscored on consecutive possessions a bit later to help push Tech’s lead back to double-digits.
- While the Scarlet Hawks used an up-tempo game to control the first half, slowing the pace down helped keep Lakeland at bay in the second. Forcing misses on defense, Tech’s lead reached as high as 22.
Scarlet Hawk Standouts
- Mosley was impressive, scoring 19 points, diving seven assists, and pulling down seven rebounds. He made all four of his free throw attempts.
- Jake Digiorgio had another double-double, recording 14 points and 13 rebounds on 6-of-10 shooting.
- Max Hisatake had one of his best games, pulling down nine rebounds, blocking two shots, and scoring 13 points.
- Tech had great bench play from the trio of Milos Dugalic (eight points, six rebounds, four assists), Gardner (six points, three rebounds), and Whitehead (three points, three rebounds). Whitehead’s impact came in just seven minutes.
Stats to Know
- One of the best rebounding teams in the league thus far, Tech once again owned the category by outdoing Lakeland 49-31 on the glass.
- Tech came into the evening with the league’s lowest opponent field goal percentage at 39.7%. The number is now even lower after the Hawks stifled the Muskies to the tune of 28.6%.
- A large reason the Muskies were able to hang around for a while was the foul disparity, as Tech’s 22 fouls led to 28 free throw attempts for Lakeland. The Scarlet Hawks shot 16 times from the stripe.