Chicago, Ill. - A little home cooking goes a long way, as the Illinois Tech Men's basketball team returned to the Keating Sports Center Tuesday night for their home opener, defeating Carroll University 64-55. Milos Dugalic led the way for the Scarlet Hawks with 16 points and 12 rebounds. The Hawks improved to 1-1 on the season. The Pioneers dropped to 1-1.

How It Happened:

First Half

• The teams went scoreless in the first two and a half minutes of the game until an Otis Reale layup started the Hawks on a 10-0 run.
• A Paradisio Dante free throw with 13;41 remaining in the first half cut the Pioneers deficit to eight at 14-6.
• The Hawks held a 12 point lead at the nine minute mark before the Pioneers chipped away, eventually closing within seven points at the 3:40 mark.
• A Calvin Schmitz three-pointer put the Hawks back up by 10 with 3:16 remaining in the half. The Hawks would hold a 30-22 lead at halftime.

Second Half

• The teams traded baskets in the first couple minutes of the second half, with the Pioneers cutting their deficit to six points before the Hawks rallied to an 11-point lead, courtesy of an Ahmad Muhammad three-pointer with 17:39 remaining.
• The Hawks expanded their lead to a game-high 15 points on a Dugalic layup with 15:20 to go.
• Ethan Balinao hit a jumper with 10:59 to go to close within six points, the closest the Pioneers would get the rest of the way.
• Caden Gigstad hit a pair of three-pointers within 27 seconds to boost the Hawks lead back up to 12 points with 7:51 remaining.
• The teams played relatively even the rest of the way, with the Hawks eventually closing out the victory 64-55.

Scarlet Hawk Standouts

• Dugalic with the double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds to pace the Hawks He also added three assists.
• Reale with 15 points and six steals.
• Gigstad with 11 points off the bench, including 3-5 from behind the arc, and four steals.

Pioneer Watch

• Balinao led Carroll with 12 points, seven rebounds and four steals.
• Tyler Miller added 11 points and fours steals, and Paradisio Dante chipped in nine points and seven rebounds.

Inside the Box Score

• The Hawks shot 46.4% from the field on 26/56 shooting. The Pioneers shot 40.0% (20/50).
• The Hawks had a decided advantage from three-point range, shooting 35% to 17.6% for the Pioneers.
• The Pioneers had a slight edge in rebounds, 32-28.
• Both teams had turnover trouble, with the Pioneers turning the ball over 20 times, while the Hawks had 17 turnovers.

Up Next

• The Scarlet Hawks return to action this Friday night, November 12, when they host Cal Lutheran at 7:30pm at the Keating Sports Center, following the women's game against Blackburn at 5pm.