Chicago, Ill. - The Illinois Tech men's basketball team faced a tough challenge Saturday afternoon at the Keating Center: squaring off against sixth-ranked and unbeaten conference foe Wisconsin Lutheran. Challenge accepted, challenge won, as Dario Biaggi made a layup as time expired, giving the Scarlet Hawks a 63-62 upset victory over the Warriors. The Scarlet Hawks improved to 3-6 overall, and evened their Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) record to 2-2. The Warriors suffered their first loss of the season, dropping to 7-1 overall and 3-1 in NACC play.

With 4.4 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and Illinois Tech trailing 62-61, the Scarlet Hawks had an inbound possession near their home bench. Owen Walsh sent the inbound pass to his right to Garrison Carter. Carter turned and drove towards the paint. With multiple Warrior defenders converging on the game's top scorer as he approached the basket, Carter passed the ball to his left to a wide-open Biaggi, who put up the layup and watched it bounce off the rim and in as the game clock expired, giving the Hawks the upset win and sending the team spilling onto the court in celebration.

For the Hawks, it was their second consecutive victory, both in conference. Illinois Tech defeated MSOE last Saturday, and had all week to scout and prepare for their contest against the conference-leading Warriors. Wisconsin Lutheran came into the game averaging 90 points scored per game, but were held to a season-low 62 points, shooting under 30 percent on 17-57 from the field. Conversely, the Scarlet Hawks shot 40.8 percent from the field on 20-49 shooting. Free throw shooting also was a deciding factor in the game, as the Hawks converted on 19-23 from the free throw line for 82.6 percent, while the Warriors missed 11 free throws, converted only 67.6 percent on 23-34 foul shooting. 

How It Happened

• First Half - Illinois Tech 27 - Wisconsin Lutheran 25: Each team took turns opening up modest leads on each other in the first half. The Scarlet Hawks started the game on a 6-0 run, their largest lead of the game. The Warriors completed a 10-0 run with 4:09 remaining in the half, giving Wisconsin Lutheran their largest lead of the game at eight points with a 24-16 lead. But the Scarlet Hawks closed out the opening frame on an 11-1 run, giving them a two-point lead heading into halftime. Carter led the Hawks with 11 points in the opening half. The Hawks shot 37.9 percent from the field on 11-29 shooting.
• Second Half - Wisconsin Lutheran 37 - Illinois Tech 36: The Scarlet Hawks maintained their lead in the early-going of the second half, with Carter connecting on a three-pointer at the 16:52 mark to give the Hawks a 34-29 lead. But a Ryan Broeckel jumper in the paint at 13:36 capped off a 7-0 run for the Warriors, giving them a 36-34 lead. After the Warriors added to their lead to go up 41-38 with 11:26 remaining, the Scarlet Hawks would go on an 8-0 run, culminated on a pair of made free throws by Vortes to give the Hawks a 46-41 lead at 8:57. The Warriors would battle back, however, and the teams would trade points down the stretch. With 29 seconds remaining, Joshua Iguade would convert on a layup in the paint and draw the foul, converting the subsequent free-throw to give Illinois Tech a 61-59 lead. Grayson Goetz would answer back for the Warriors, making a layup and drawing the foul on Iguade with 10 seconds remaining. Goetz converted the free-throw, giving the Warriors a 62-61 lead. The Hawks would call a time-out with 5.5 seconds remaining, setting up the game-winning dramatics by Carter and Biaggi to grab the comeback victory. Carter added 13 points in the second half. The Scarlet Hawks shot 45 percent from the field in the second half on 9-20 shooting.

Scarlet Hawk Standouts

• Garrison Carter led all scorers with 24 points, shooting 7-15 from the field, including 2-3 from three-point range, shooting a perfect 8-8 from the free-throw line, while pulling down a game-high 10 rebounds, adding 3 steals, 2 assists and 1 block in 39:44 minutes of action
• Dario Biaggi with 10 points, including the game-winning basket as time expired, while adding 5 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 assists in 38:29 minutes played
• DeAndre Vortes with 15 points, including 4-4 from the free-throw line, 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 steals in 29:34 minutes played
• Joshua Iguade with 9 points, including 5-5 from the free-throw line, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks and 1 assist in 34:57 minutes played
• Owen Walsh with 4 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals in 24 minutes played

Inside The Box Score

• Jacob Stoltz paced the Warriors with 14 points, with Grayson Goetz adding 13 and Ja'Quell Chisom adding 11.
• The game featured 20 lead changes and 15 ties
• Illinois Tech held a 14-6 advantage in fast-break points while the Warriors held a 12-2 advantage in second-chance points

Up Next
The Scarlet Hawks return to the court on Wednesday, December 18th, when St. Norbert College comes to the Keating Center for a 5:00pm NACC matchup, the last of six consecutive home games for the Hawks.