The Dominican University men's basketball team outlasted the Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks on Wednesday night at the Igini Sports Forum, topping the Scarlet Hawks 65-59 to score their first Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) win of the season, improving to 3-4 overall and 1-3 in league play. The win snaps a four-game skid for the Stars after Dominican won its first two games of the season.
"It was nice to get our first conference win of the season," said
Mark White, the Stars' head men's basketball coach, following the win. "The team has been working hard, believing in the process and staying positive. It was good to see them rewarded for their efforts with a win."
Dominican's
Jackson Smith scored 15 of his team-high 19 points in the second half, going 3-for-5 from the field over the final 20 minutes, including 2-for-2 from three, and converted on each of his six attempts from the free throw line.
Smith's three-pointer with just over 17 minutes to play, evened the score at 33-33 after the Stars trailed by as many as 12 in the first half.
After Dominican briefly took the lead, the Scarlet Hawks used a quick 5-0 spurt to open a 40-36 lead. A Smith layup followed by back-to-back buckets by
KJ Redfield put the Stars in front, 46-44, with 9:42 to go. The sides traded leads over the next five and a half minutes until Smith scored seven straight during a two-minute stretch, sparking a 12-0 run for Dominican that spanned 2:32 and gave the Stars a 63-54 lead with 1:22 remaining.
The Scarlet Hawks scored the next five points before Smith put the game on ice with a pair of free throws with 21 seconds to play.
The Stars shot .458 in the winning effort, going 22-for-48 from the field.
KJ Redfield came off the bench to score 14 points in 23 minutes on 6-for-10 shooting while
Tyler Guest rounded out three in double-figures scoring with 12 points.
For the Scarlet Hawks, Max Hisitake scored a game-high 20 points on 9-for-12 shooting while Mile Curry added 14 points and nine rebounds in the loss.
The Stars will look to pick up their second straight win on Saturday, traveling to Wisconsin Lutheran College to take on the Warriors in league play. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. in Milwaukee.
