CHICAGO, Ill. – Despite a fast start, the Illinois Tech men's basketball team (2-4, 0-2 NACC) was defeated by the Aurora University Spartans (2-1, 1-1 NACC) in Saturday's Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) contest. The visitors were able to weather a strong Scarlet Hawks attack early on in the contest and use strong outside shooting to pull away, defeating the Scarlet Hawks 73-57.

How it Happened

• An absolutely blistering start gave the Scarlet Hawks a 14-4 lead just 4:27 into the contest. Anthony Mosley Jr. scored the game's first four points, hitting a mid-range jumper before jumping a passing lane and taking it in for a fastbreak dunk.
• Aurora, however, slowly closed the gap, making it a one-point game for the first time on a Garrett Hoffman three-pointer at the 9:05 mark.
• The Spartans would take a lead for the first time with a pair of Jesse Young free throws with 3:21 left in the half (27-26), but Illinois Tech's Ahmad Muhammad provided some steady play to regain the lead. He hit a jumper and later assisted Jake Digiorgio to help the Scarlet Hawks take a 32-29 lead into intermission.
• After a back-and-forth first few minutes of the second half, Aurora took a 41-40 lead on a Bailey Vance layup with 15:22 left to play. This would give the Spartans the lead for good.
• While Tech struggled offensively, Aurora began to thrive. The Spartans shot 59.3% from the floor over the last 20 minutes and 8-of-12 from three-point range (66.7%) as the lead built throughout the rest of the contest.

Scarlet Hawk Standouts

• Mosley Jr. and Muhammad each led the team with 12 points. In addition, Mosley Jr. added five assists, seven rebounds, and two steals.
• Jake Digiorgio's streak of double-doubles snapped at five, but he just narrowly missed the mark with nine points and 12 boards.
• Freshman Milos Dugalic scored nine points and grabbed four rebounds in just 21 minutes of play.

Stats to Know

• While the Scarlet Hawks outrebounded the Spartans by 10 (48-38), Tech had double the amount of turnovers as AU (16-8).
• Three-point shooting was a key factor, with Aurora shooting 52.2% (12-of-23) compared to Tech's 16.0% (4-of-25).

Up Next

• Men's Basketball will host the Stars of Dominican University on Wednesday night. Live audio, video, and stats will be available. The live audio will be powered by Illinois Media School.