Chicago, Illinois - The Scarlet Hawks delivered a solid performance in front of its home crowd on Thursday night as they hosted crosstown foe Moody Bible. The Hawks held the lead for the majority of the second half but after getting into foul trouble, could not hold on. Moody was able to capture the 49-47 win.
After finding themselves down 23-13 with six minutes remaining in the first half, the Hawks would rally and go on a 9-1, seven of those points coming from standout forward Samuel Rarick. Illinois Tech headed to the half with a one point deficit at 26-25.
The Hawks pulled ahead by six points in second half, leading 35-29 with 12 minutes remaining. From there, they would trade the lead with Moody for the remainder of the contest. Down 49-44 with a little over a minute left and the top two scorers for Illinois Tech, Rarick and Anders Bybjerg fouling out, the Scarlet Hawks would look to freshman point guard Derrick De Lara to drain a couple of necessary threes to win it. The first one was perfect from long range to get the crowd back to its feet and pull the Hawks within 2. After two missed free throws by Moody, Tech had the ball back but unfortunately De Lara couldn't repeat the magic.
Rarick led all scorers with 31 points, also grabbing 15 rebounds. Bybjerg added 8 points and 12 rebounds while Vignesh Rajagopal contributed with 14 rebounds.
The Hawks will close out their season on Tuesday night at home when they take on Lincoln Christian at 7pm.