CHICAGO - In a game that saw 14 ties and nine lead changes, Marian University men's basketball (4-10, 2-7 NACC) fell to Illinois Tech by a 58-51 final.

The first half was a seesaw battle that saw a four-point advantage being the largest lead either team would hold.  The tight battle led to a 26-26 tally heading into halftime.  The Sabre defense had a strong start forcing nine IIT turnovers with five steals, while the offense shot 11-27 (.407).

The second half saw even tighter action as the game remained a one-possession game until 7:06 remained to play with IIT taking a 48-44 lead.  The Sabres were able to easily tie the game immediately after with a pair of layups and a defensive stop in between.  The Scarlet Hawks answered following the 48-48 tie and scored eight unanswered points to take the largest lead of the game with only 1:38 left to play.

The Sabres were able to chip away at their deficit trimming the IIT lead down to as little as five but the Sabres were unable to rally any closer dropping the tight NACC game.

Junior Will Polczynski and senior Kelvin Jones each came off the bench to score a game-high 12 points.  Senior Tyrese Pinson led the way on the boards with six rebounds and also had six assists.

Marian returns home to take on Wisconsin Lutheran Saturday, January 12 for a 4:15 p.m. tip in  NACC action.