The Aurora University Spartans defeated the Milwaukee School of Engineering Raiders 87-80 in the Nort
hern Athletics Conference Tournament Semi-Final game on Thursday, February 25 in AU's Thornton Gymnasium.
The win advances the Spartans to their fourth consecutive NAC tournament championship game on Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. in Thornton Gymnasium. AU will play for their fourth consecutive NAC Championship and fourth consecutive bid into the NCAA Division III Championships.
The game started out with a lot of quick scoring by both sides and the Spartans led 17-14 six minutes into the contest. Spartan senior forward Shane Roland had a two handed
slam dunk that seemed to jump start the crowd but unfortunately the scoring did not follow.
The lead continued to teeter back and forth with the Spartans and Raiders making shot after shot followed by stop after stop for the remainder of the first half. Neither team had a lead larger than six (AU led 11-5) and the teams combined for 13 lead changes and two ties in the opening half.
AU freshman forward Martin Lamar made two free throws with 28 seconds remaining in the half to increase the Spartans lead to 43-39 and the half-time score would be the same.
First half scoring leaders for the Spartans were Roland (12 points), senior guard Dusty Magee (nine points) and senior guard Ari Iventosch (seven points). The Raiders were led by senior center Jeremy Off's 13 points and six rebounds.
The Spartans started the second half off in dominant fashion with an 11-0 run which concluded as a 15-2 run giving the hosts a 17-point advantage at 58-41.
But the relentless Raiders battled back and shrunk the lead to seven points (64-57) with nine minutes to play in the second-half.
AU responded by building the lead back to 12-points (74-62) with seven minutes to play.
The AU bench of Lamar and junior guard
Damian Lewis fueled the Spartan insurgence.
But once again the Raiders would not go away quietly, as a lay-up by Raider senior forward Luke Larson quieted the AU crowd, cutting the Spartan lead to five (76-71) with just under three minutes of action left.
From that point on, the Spartan senior trio of Magee, Roland and Iventosch all tallied baskets to hold off the Raiders and advance to the NAC Championship game against Dominican University. Magee tallied the final four free-throws of the contest and had seve
n of the final 11 Spartans points.
Magee led the Spartans with a game-high 25 points, seven rebounds and four assists, Roland notched 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting, senior forward Lance Robinson had 11 points, eight assists and five rebounds and Lamar had his second-consecutive strong performance off the AU bench with 10 points and six rebounds.
The Raiders were led by Jeremy Off's 21 points and 14 rebounds and junior forward Austin Meier had 13 points and nine rebounds.
AU improves to 17-10 on the season while MSOE concludes the 2009-2010 season with a 17-10 record.
