CHICAGO—The Illinois Institute of Technology men's basketball team hosted Aurora University in their final home regular season game of 2019-20 on Saturday. The Spartans overcame a 15-point, 37-22 deficit with 1:26 left in the first and led for a better part of the final 10:00 of the game before the Scarlet Hawks closed the contest with an 8-0 run en route to a 70-66 victory. 

The Scarlet Hawks, who honored seniors Max Hisatake and Ricardo Whitehead, improve to 10-13, 8-10 NACC. IIT has now won four of their last five games and are still alive for the 2020 NACC Men's Basketball Tournament. Aurora falls to 8-15, 7-11 NACC.

"I was happy we were able to come back and win, but disappointed we blew a 14-point halftime lead," said IIT head men's basketball coach Todd Kelly. "After being down by 10, we showed a lot of resiliency and fought back in that second half. We hit some free throws down the stretch and we had some guys really step up and play well for us. We're still alive for the conference tournament, and won three in a row which gives us a lot of motivation going forward."

The Scarlet Hawks' largest advantage of the game occurred at the 1:26 mark of the first when the score was 37-22. The Spartans responded with a 39-14 run that flipped the script and gave them their largest edge at 61-51 with 7:44 left in the second half. IIT's 19-6 run to close the game included 11 free throws, which iced them a 70-66 victory.

Four Scarlet Hawks finished in double figures, led by Miles Curry's 21 points, followed by Ahmad Muhammad's 19 that included four three-pointers. Milos Dugalic notched a double double with 18 points and 13 boards. Hisatake tallied his 18th double double of the season with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Otis Reale registered a game-high seven assists for IIT.

IIT shot .440 (22-50), and held Aurora to .426 (23-54). The Spartans were led by Bailey Vance and Will Hrubes' 12 points a piece.

The Scarlet Hawks will face Concordia University (Wis.) in Mequon, Wisconsin on Tuesday, February 18 at 7:00 p.m.