From University of Chicago Athletics

The University of Chicago men's basketball team owned a huge rebounding advantage and scored consistently in the paint to defeat Illinois Institute of Technology 84-31 on Saturday.

The Maroons wrapped up their non-conference schedule with an 8-3 mark. The Scarlet Hawks dropped to 0-12 on the year.

UChicago utilized its height to put up a dominating display on the boards, outrebounding IIT 50-15 in the game. Those rebounds helped the Maroons enjoy a 22-0 edge in second-chance points and a 42-10 margin for points in the paint. Freshman forward Collin Barthel was the most active on the glass with a career-high 13 rebounds. Sophomore forward Blaine Crawford impressed offensively with a career-best 21 points. He made 9 of 10 free throws and 6 of 7 field goals while also pulling down eight boards.

The Scarlet Hawks stymied UChicago's offense early on with a zone defense. The Maroons missed their first six shots until freshman guard Jake Fenlon swished a three-pointer. Fenlon ended up scoring eight of the team's first 13 points, and his trey from the corner put the team up 13-4.

Sophomore forward Waller Perez had eight points in the first half as well and the Maroons went into halftime with a 34-10 lead. IIT leading scorer Samuel Rarick scored all 10 of his team's points and came into the game ranked fourth in the country at 26.3 points per game.

In the second half, UChicago snagged offensive rebounds by the bushel and built its lead up to 49-14. The home team kept increasing its lead from there, cutting for layups and piling up assists. UChicago ended the game with a 22-6 edge in the assists category. Sophomore guard Tyler Howard accounted for 10 assists while running the point. Defensively, the Maroons harassed Rarick into 9-for-28 shooting from the field.

The bench came up big with 53 points on the afternoon, led by Crawford's 21. The Maroons had nine turnovers compared to 17 by IIT. UChicago's 53-point spread was its largest winning margin since defeating IIT 109-46 on November 26, 2013.

UChicago Team Stats & Leaders
Field-goal Percentage – 47.1 percent (32-68)
Three-point Percentage – 25.0 percent (8-32)
Free-throw Percentage – 92.3 percent (12-13)
Blaine Crawford (Forward, So.) – 21 points, 8 rebounds
Waller Perez (Forward, So.) – 14 points, 4 rebounds
Collin Barthel (Forward, Fr.) – 8 points, 13 rebounds, 4 steals