CHICAGO—The Illinois Institute of Technology men's basketball team controlled their postseason fate in Saturday's road bout at Rockford University as a win would lock them a spot in the 2019-20 NACC Tournament. The Scarlet Hawks secured themselves the No. 6 seed with an 87-80 victory over the Regents, and their second-straight NACC Tournament appearance. IIT has now won five-straight games, and six of their last seven. 

The No. 6 Scarlet Hawks, who conclude the 2019-20 regular season with a 12-13, 10-10 NACC record, will travel to No. 3 Concordia University (Wis.) on Tuesday, February 25 for a first-round match-up at 7:00 p.m. No. 1 Benedictine, No. 2 Wisconsin Lutheran, No. 4 Lakeland and No. 5 MSOE round out the six-team field in the 2019-20 NACC Tournament. Rockford ends their season with an 11-14, 9-11 NACC record. 

Otis Reale was nothing short of a spark plug for the Scarlet Hawks as he came off the bench with 24 points and three assists on 7-of-12 shooting. Ahmad Muhammad tallied four 3-point baskets and converted all seven free throws en route to 23 points. Max Hisatake converted his 19th double double of the season with 12 points and 13 rebounds while Miles Curry rounded out the IIT double figure scorers with 19 points. Milos Dugalic tied for a game-high seven assists along with eight points for IIT. 

Ten lead changes occurred in the first half while only one took place in the final 20:00. That final lead change occurred with 14:01 left in the second half off Hisatake's layup that gave Illinois Tech the advantage for good at 43-42 before they secured an 87-80 win.

Kivontay Shaw paced the Regents with 21 points. The Scarlet Hawks converted over half their shots with a 25-of-48 (.521) figure.