Lisle, Ill. - Illinois Tech men's basketball continued their recent winning ways, staving off host Benedictine University Wednesday night in Lisle for a 69-66 victory. The Scarlet Hawks improved to 5-8 on the season, and 4-3 in the NACC. The Eagles dropped to 6-8 overall (5-4 NACC).

After a long layoff between games in December due to the pandemic and holiday scheduling, the Hawks have now won three of four conference games in January.

Milos Dugalic continued his hot hand, scoring 27 points and pulling down 12 rebounds. He is averaging 23 points and nine rebounds per game in January.

Otis Reale quarterbacked the Hawks offense on this night, handing out 10 assists to go along with his 13 points.

The Hawks opened the game with a 10-5 run before the Eagles tied the score at 10-10 with 13:01 to play in the first half. Play remained even until Jeff Kratz gave the Eagles their biggest lead of the game at four 22-18 with 7:29 remaining in the half. A three-pointer by Caden Gigstad with 4:03 remaining gave the Hawks a brief 26-24 lead. The teams traded baskets in the final minutes before a Dugalic layup as time expired gave the Hawks a 35-33 lead heading into the break.

Illinois Tech kept the Eagles at bay throughout most of the second half, holding the lead for 17 plus minutes, including a 10-point lead with over five minutes remaining. Trevor Montiel hit a jumper and the follow-up free throw with 1:09 remaining to pull the Eagles within one point at 65-64. A pair of free throws by Dugalic and a jumper by Reale sandwiched around an Eagles basket gave the Scarlet Hawks their final margin of victory.

Scarlet Hawk Standouts

• Dugalic finished with 27 points and 12 rebounds.
• Reale had 13 points, 10 assists and three steals.
• Calvin Schmitz had 13 points to go along with six rebounds.
• Gigstad finished with 12 points.

Eagles Watch

• Nick Kosich finished with 15 points, six rebounds, six assists and two steals.
• Marvin Agwomoh had 14 points and five rebounds.

Inside the Box Score

• The Hawks finished shooting 38% from three-point range (6/16), while the Eagles finished at 36% (8/22).
• The Hawks committed 15 fouls to the Eagles 14.
• Illinois Tech shot 78% from the free throw stripe. Benedictine shot 53%.
• Dugalic was the minutes leader for the Hawks, playing 37 minutes. Kosich played 33 minutes for the Eagles.

Up Next

• The Scarlet Hawks continue their travels with the second stop of their three-game road swing when they travel to Marian on Saturday, January 22nd to take on the Sabres at 4:15pm in a NACC matchup.